Carmen Electra muses over Prince

CEBU, Philippines - Prince helped Carmen Electra launch her Hollywood career and the duo even briefly dated

in the early ‘90s, but when they first met, it wasn’t instant sparks.

“That first time I met Prince, he was very quiet,” she tells LaPalme magazine’s summer issue. “I was very shy, so there was this awkward moment of us just kind of standing in front of each other.”

Eventually, the late legend “broke the ice by asking me if I wanted to play pool, and I was so horrible that he just kept laughing at me,” she recalls.

Prince also gave Electra – born Tara Leigh Patrick – her stage name when they went into the studio together.

“I reminded him that my name was Tara. He told me, ‘You look like a Carmen, so to me, you’re Carmen,” she says. “He was so mysterious, but one of the wittiest people I’ve ever met. He was simply one of a kind.”

According to Electra, her mentor touched those in his life with “his beautiful spirit and his powerful music,” and left a lasting impact on her.

“As an artist and as a person, Prince was so extraordinarily generous,” she says. “It was very generous for him to give me a chance to start a music career, and I’ll always be grateful that he believed in me and took a chance on me. We’re all devastated, and it didn’t seem like it was his right time to go.”

Prince died at age 57 on April 21 at his Paisley Park compound in Minnesota. (FREEMAN)