If you ever meet Rita Moreno, try not to hug her too hard! During today’s episode of The View, the EGOT revealed how she accidentally peed herself while accepting her Kennedy Center Honor back in 2015.
Sara Haines brought up the moment — which Moreno called a “great story” before going on to explain what exactly happened to the panel.
“The night before the actual Kennedy Awards on television, you are invited to the State Department and that’s where you get your necklace and that’s where you get your dedication,” she said. “In that case, it was Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court Justice, who talked about me and asked me to come from my table.”
After she said “fabulous” things about Moreno, the star recalled feeling “insanely proud” — that is, until her evening was derailed when she went back to her table, where a young lawyer who helped put everything together got a little too excited.
“He lifted me up. And was hugging me to death, and I mean really hugging me,” Moreno said. “And I felt a stream of something hot.”
She stoically confirmed, “Yes, I was peeing.”
Shortly after, the 91-year-old West Side Story star said the lawyer was “so thrilled” that he picked her up again, much to her dismay.
“This is the kind of thing where I said, ‘No, this is not happening,'” Moreno joked. “Sonia just said I’m a splendid person. I’m a star, this is not happening.”
Fortunately, the gown — which she said was custom-made for her by Narciso Rodriguez — didn’t have a stain. But it was soiled in other ways, according to Moreno.
“I had not only peed on it — it did not leave a stain — but it got so cold I had to go change,” she told the co-hosts. “I hung up the gown and it shrank down to a size four.”
The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.