Rita Moreno Explains Why She Was ‘Astonished’ When She Met Lenny Kravitz

Rita Moreno had a memorable time meeting Lenny Kravitz.

On the Thursday, April 18, episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show, Moreno recalled making Kravitz’s acquaintance at last month’s 2024 Vanity Fair Oscar Party — and how she was “astonished” at his reaction to her.

“I said to my daughter [Fernanda Luisa Gordon], ‘Oh look, there’s Lenny Kravitz. Let’s go say hello,’ recalled the EGOT winner, 92. “And she said, ‘Do you know him?’ I said, ‘No, but, you know, it’s a party,’ and he was all alone.”

After Moreno introduced herself to the music superstar, “At that point — you’re not gonna believe this — he fell to the floor and he got on his knees.”

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“And he just went on and on and on and on about how much he’s admired me all these years,” she told host Jennifer Hudson, joking, “I nearly peed my britches.”

After Hudson, 42, asked whether she “kept [her] cool” in the wake of Kravitz’s reaction to meeting her, Moreno said, ” ‘Keep my cool?’ Are you crazy? I just said, ‘Oooh, thank you!’ ”

“And I kept saying, ‘Really? Really?’ ‘Cause he kept telling me how, since he was a young boy, he loved me. And I just kept looking at my daughter and saying,” she continued, miming pointing to Kravitz’s reaction with a look of pride on her face.

“But I was astonished. That was marvelous,” Moreno raved of the moment.

Kravitz, who turns 60 in May, was honored with the People’s Music Icon award in February during the 2024 People’s Choice Awards, where he performed a medley of his hits.

And in March, Kravitz was honored with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star at a ceremony with loved ones by his side, including daughter Zoë Kravitz and longtime friend Denzel Washington.

“It’s an incredible honor to be on this street. To be with all of these great people that have done incredible things with their lives is an honor,” Kravitz told PEOPLE at the ceremony.

“I never thought about it. Like I said, when I was a kid I was walking up and down these streets but I was pretty much always thinking about where I was gong to sleep that night,” he continued. “To have it now just feels so surreal, and I’m really grateful.”