Carmen Electra
Hollywood beauty Carmen Electra, pictured Aug. 5, 2013, mourned the death of Prince, her ex-boyfriend, on Instagram Thursday. Getty Images

Actress Carmen Electra took to Instagram after the shocking death of her ex-boyfriend, Prince, Thursday. The artist is arguably responsible for her career in Tinseltown, signing her to his recording label in 1991.

“I feel so sad and confused right now,” she wrote to her 506,000 Instagram followers Thursday. “I'm in shock! I love u, Prince. Hope you're comfortable and peaceful now. Play on, my love, play on.”

Prince even gave Electra, 44, her famous name. "He gave me my name,” she told Hollywood Life in January. “My name is Tara Leigh [Patrick], and at the time there was another artist out who had a No. 1 hit by the name of Tara Kemp, I think it was, so he just didn’t want us to get confused. He said, ‘You’re Carmen.’ And I was like, ‘OK Prince, I’m Carmen. Whatever you say!’ I don’t know where he came up with [Electra], but at first I thought it sounded like a superhero name, but it really stuck. I’ve kept it.”

prince
Prince rocks black shades while catching a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden in 1996. Getty Images

Prince also helped Electra the first time she was styled for a photo shoot. She recalled the incident to W magazine in December. “When Prince signed me to his record label Paisley Park, I had my first professional photo shoot with a full team of makeup, hair, and stylists,” she said on December. “It was so new to me, and I was very nervous at first. It didn’t take me long to start loving it. Prince actually had one of those photos enlarged, and hung in Paisley Park.”

Prince died Thursday at the age of 57. A cause of death has not been determined, but he reportedly suffered with the flu several weeks before he died. He was best known for songs like “1999,” “Little Red Corvette,” “When Doves Cry,” “Let’s Go Crazy,” “Kiss,” and “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.”

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