How Stevie Nicks Reacted to David Letterman’s Girlfriend: ‘Too Bad for Me, Huh?’

Over the course of her life, Stevie Nicks has had several great loves and romantic experiences. She has also drawn admiration from fans and celebrities alike. One of these people was late-night television host David Letterman. After he repeatedly asked Nicks to appear on his show, some wondered if he was harboring a crush for the musician. Here’s what she had to say about him.

Stevie Nicks went on tour with Tom Petty and Bob Dylan instead of promoting her album

In 1986, Nicks told Tom Petty’s wife that she would accompany him on tour in Australia. His wife couldn’t go, so Nicks stepped in to look after him. He was performing with Bob Dylan, so Nicks was happy to watch both artists without joining them onstage.

“Having Stevie along was very good for me,” Petty said, per the book Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks by Stephen Davis. “It changed the channel. Stevie was lighthearted, and she so loved music. She figured out before I did that we had a blend as singers. She’d come over and we’d sing old songs, and it could sound so good. She also knew more than most that I was in a delicate mental spot.”

While Nicks was a welcome presence on tour, she was meant to be home in the United States promoting her solo album Rock a Little.

David Letterman continually requested she appear on his show

While Nicks was in Australia with Petty and Dylan, Letterman was requesting her presence on his show. Per the Phoenix New Times, Letterman would run clips of her music videos. He asked that she come to New York and sing her single, “I Can’t Wait,” on his show. Letterman also poked fun at Nicks’ management company for not getting her on the program.

Nicks explained that despite Letterman’s running joke, she was unaware that she should be promoting her work.

“I was gone, out of touch with the world, and it got into the papers that I’d disappeared,” she said. “I’m in Australia with Tom Petty and Bob Dylan, having a great time — oblivious. This is how important Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are to me. I was completely willing to get in the way of my own single.”

Eventually, she went home and ended the saga with Letterman by performing “I Can’t Wait” on his show. In an interview with Time Out New York (via Rock a Little), Nicks was asked if she’d ever been on a date with Letterman, as he seemed to have a crush on her.

“Never. Never! [Pauses] I think David Letterman has a live-in girlfriend,” she said. “He doesn’t talk about her, but every once in a while — a couple of months ago, something happened at his house. On the show, he said, ‘And, you know, the girlfriend …’ So too bad for me, huh? [Laughs] He’s rich, and he has a job.”

Stevie Nicks made multiple appearances on David Letterman’s show

Despite the long journey to getting Nicks to appear on Late Night With David Letterman, Nicks gave several performances on the show. In her final performance on the Late Show With David Letterman, Nicks appeared with The Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl. As one of the musicians featured in Grohl’s Sound City documentary, Nicks performed the song “You Can’t Fix This” to help promote the film.