The comedian says he didn’t even realize it at the time.

Eddie Murphy reveals Yul Brynner tried to proposition him for sexual encounter with wife: ‘Wish I would’ve went’

The comedian says he didn't even realize it at the time.

By Jillian Sederholm

Jillian Sederholm

Jillian Sederholm is news director at *. *She has worked at EW for more than eight years. Jillian has previously worked as a reporter, social media editor, and homepage producer at NBC News, Digital First Media, Newsday, and *Random Lengths News.*

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November 13, 2025 2:21 p.m. ET

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Eddie Murphy and Yul Brynner. Credit:

Jon Kopaloff/Getty; Silver Screen Collection/Getty

Eddie Murphy is looking back on a wild proposition he received during his early days of fame.

In the new Netflix documentary *Being Eddie, *the comedian reveals that when he was 21, *The King and I* star Yul Brynner tried to invite him home for what Murphy is pretty sure was meant to be a sexual encounter with the late actor's wife.

"Nobody had as much fun as we had in the '80s. Nobody," Murphy prefaced his story. "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?'"

The *Coming to America *star said he politely declined, answering, "Nah, I'm cool."

Yul Brynner in 'The King and I'.

Screen Archives/Getty

It wasn't until years later that he had a better understanding of the full request.**

"I got older, I was like, *party*?" Murphy remembered thinking. "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."

In hindsight, Murphy said he would have had a different response for the actor, who died in 1985 at age 65.

"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 laughed, mimicking the Best Actor-winner's famous line.**

Eddie Murphy in 'Being Eddie'.

Courtesy of Netflix

The story is just one of many memorable encounters for Murphy, who joined the cast of *Saturday Night Live *straight out of high school. He confirmed that his younger years looked a lot like the stories his late brother, Charlie Murphy, told about them on* Chappelle's Show.*

"Every night was like that," the *Dreamgirls* actor said in the doc, insisting he never actually wanted to partake in that aspect of Hollywood life himself.

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"When I hung out with, like, Rick James and them in the '80s, when I would start seeing certain people come in the room, and you know what's getting ready to start going down. They get ready to be in the other room getting down, I just bounced," he said. "I was never curious about it. I never wanted to go in there, check it out, or nothing. I just wasn't with it."

Murphy explained he was never interested in substances, even when offered up by legends.**

"When I was 19, it was my first year of *Saturday Night Live*, I went to a blues bar with John Belushi and Robin Williams. 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."

Eddie Murphy during 'Mister Robinson's Neighborhood' sketch on 'SNL' on Feb. 6, 1982 -.

Al Levine/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

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The Oscar nominee shared that not only has he "never even tried cocaine," he also doesn't drink or smoke cigarettes and "never smoked a joint until I was 30 years old."

*Being Eddie *is on Netflix now.

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