Eddie Murphy is revisiting one of the wildest moments from his rise to fame. In Netflix’s new documentary “Being Eddie,” the comedian claims a Hollywood legend offered him a racy birthday gift.
Eddie Murphy (Credit: Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images)
“Nobody had as much fun as we had in the ’80s. Nobody,” Murphy said.
“My 21st birthday party, I had at Studio 54. Yul Brynner, from ‘The Ten Commandments,’ he was with his wife, and he was like, ‘How would you like to go back to my apartment with my wife and I and party?’”
Eddie Murphy makes a wild claim about late actor Yul Brynner (Credit: Terry Disney/Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Eddie Murphy makes a wild claim about a Hollywood legend in Netflix’s “Being Eddie” documentary. (Credit: Presley Ann/Getty Images for Netflix)
Murphy said he turned the offer down without much thought, telling the Oscar winner, “Nah, I’m cool.” But years later, he realized what may actually have been on the table.
“I got older, I was like, party?” Murphy says in the doc. “His wife was smiling. I was like, ‘Did he want me to go f— his wife?’ I was like, what the? When I got older, I thought back on it.”
Reflecting on the incident, Murphy admits his response today might be very different. “Now I wish I would’ve went. The story would end better if, you know, ‘Yeah, I went back to Yul Brynner’s spot and f—ed his wife. He was watching me f—ing… He was going, ‘Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera,’” he jokes, referencing Brynner’s famous line from “The King and I.”
Eddie Murphy recalls his early days before fame and what he witnessed at industry parties in showbiz. (Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
The story is just one of several candid memories Murphy shares in the documentary. Joining “Saturday Night Live” fresh out of high school, the star lived through the wild nightlife his late brother Charlie Murphy often described on “Chappelle’s Show,” but the “Coming to America” star insists he avoided those scenes personally.
“Every night was like that,” Murphy recalls. But when parties started heading in certain directions, he says, “I just bouncedI never wanted to go in there, check it out, or nothing. I just wasn’t with it.”
Even when partying alongside icons John Belushi and Robin Williams, Murphy says he avoided drugs completely.
“When I was 19, they put some blow on the table. I’m standing there with, you know, two heroes,” he recalled. “I wasn’t even curious. I was just not with it.” Murphy reveals he never tried cocaine, doesn’t drink or smoke, and “never smoked a joint until I was 30 years old.”
“Being Eddie” is available to stream on Netflix now.
