Matthew Lawrence Shares Rare Insight Into Chilli Romance and How She Prepared Him for Masked Singer

TooFab spoke to the Boy Meets World star after he was unmasked as “The Paparazzo” on The Masked Singer Wednesday, where he shed some light on their lowkey relationship and revealed how Chilli stepped in to help him prepare for his performance on TMS after suffering years of stage fright.

“OK, so that  funny the way that came up. When you say you’re going to do the show, they send you a questionnaire, the Masked Singer crew, with like, ‘What’s your favorite artist, singing artist, what genre? And then what’s a guilty pleasure song you would sing in the shower?’ And when that song came out, it got stuck in my head,” Lawrence explained.

“But as a guy, I felt a little self-conscious to be singing, ‘Hey, I’m unpretty,’ out in the public. I was singing in the shower. So as a joke I wrote that down. Of course, they choose it,” he added. “And they were really like, ‘You gotta do this. You gotta do this.’ So I had to go to my girlfriend and her bandmate and ask because Tionne (T-Boz) wrote it. So I asked for approval, and man, talk about pressure. I just hope I did it justice.”

“They were so sweet and so supportive,” he added of the TLC singers, before sharing the tips and tricks Chilli gave him before taking the stage. “And yes, Chilli was giving me tips on how to perform that are just invaluable lessons from a pro, like the legend of a pro, so what an experience.”

While both Lawrence and Chilli are major stars in their own right, their careers are furthest from their mind at home, with the 45-year-old actor telling TooFab that the couple considers themselves normal and “grounded.”

“In our personal lives, all that stuff is out the window. Thank goodness, and that’s what’s so beautiful about our relationship, is that even though she’s just so successful, honestly, you go into our home with us, you don’t see that at all — at all,” Lawrence maintained. “We’re two very humble people, and she in particular is so grounded. We’re like doing laundry and cooking dinner and you never, never see any of that. So we don’t really talk about this kind of stuff. I don’t talk about my acting career. She doesn’t really talk about her singing career other than scheduling and touring. So this brought that out.”

He continued, “And to hear her talk, like she’s giving me advice, for example, she’s like, you know, ‘Prince told me once,’ and I’m like, ‘You’re putting me in the same sentence as Prince?!’ I’m like, ‘Come on.’ I’m living in a surreal world here. So that’s what happened.”

The lesson Prince told her that helped get Lawrence through to the final 6? It was a about pacing himself on stage, something that came in handy with the heavy camera mask he had to sport.

“That was a major, major obstacle. When we were first doing it the first week, It was so unstable that they had to put two rods that were bolted into the back of the camera down my back. And then, here’s the hard part, with those rods, they put out like a harness that would go on like flying ropes. They harnessed and strapped it in. Now, it’s like a wind instrument. And your lungs are the airbags, almost like a bagpipe, right?” Lawrence explained.

“So when you’re strapped in, it’s like somebody’s giving you a bear hug, and then on top of that, you get the nerves, and you’re sweating bullets. I can’t have my glasses on,” he added. “So even though I only had a peephole that was this big, I couldn’t see out of it anyway. I had no idea where I was on that stage.”

“And to the point where I had some of the background dancers, they had them there specifically… I’m strapped in. So you’re nervous. You’re already tight, right? So you go to take a breath, it’s like, you’re trying to draw in the air and also stay on time. Woo. That was something to overcome,” he added.

Stepping on The Masked Singer stage also marked a major milestone for Lawrence, who said he overcame nearly two decades of stage fright following a failed Broadway audition back in the day.

“It came out of the blue as they called me to be a part of it. And of course, I was honored. But my first reaction was, ‘No. I know I’m not doing this.’ But there’s a backstory. I have a bit of a stage fright when it comes to singing in front of a crowd. I had a couple of crazy auditions back in the day and bombed one of them — quite spectacularly that was for a musical and for singing,” Lawrence shared. “In acting, maybe you don’t have a great audition, but I’ve never bombed one. This was like, went to go sing, throat closed, ran off stage…. In front of a huge crowd, right? It wasn’t just like a normal audition. Like, they packed the house. So after that, I really steered away from singing.”

After some time and a shift in perspective, Lawrence said he no longer wanted to act out of fear, and decision to say yes to the show.

“Making decisions based in fear I think are always going to steer you wrong, and I spent two decades saying no to musical type opportunities, and when this came along my older brother who had done the show and a few other people around me were like, ‘Maybe you should… You’re wearing a mask, it’s all in good fun, like maybe this will help you kind of get through this this fear that you haven’t sang in front of people.’ So I was like, yeah, this is a season of yes, like not acting out of fear anymore,” Lawrence said. “I’m going to take this opportunity.’ And I’m so glad I did, because even though it was filled with a lot of anxiety and fear and nerves and all this crazy stuff, I had a couple of moments where I was able just to sing on stage without thinking, for the first time ever in my life, dropping the fear and being able to sing to an audience and having them react to me.”

“That’s an amazing, like, when do you get to do that? It’s an amazing experience,” he gushed. “I’m so glad that I did. Everybody on the show too is just so wonderful.”

As for who knew about his performance, Lawrence said that his Boy Meets World co-star, Rider Strong, figured out he was on the show while watching in real time with his son.

“He came up to me. I did this 90s Con or something they were at. And he came up to me, and I was not thinking at all. He was like, ‘Matt, you can sing.’ I was like, ‘Oh, buddy.’ He was like, ‘You’re so good. I was watching with my son.’ I was so touched,” Lawrence recalled. “He had no clue at all that I sang. Even in my personal life, he didn’t know. It’s a great surprise. It was. I was shocked.”

His brothers knew too, with Joey even giving him some advice that, while he didn’t reveal it, turned out to be spot on. As for ranking his famous siblings, Lawrence said their singing styles each stand out on their own.

“We all have very different voices, in my opinion. Andy’s like the rock guy. Joe is like that classic, you know, 90s poppy R&B type thing. And I don’t know. I just kind of have my individual thing, too. So it’s really hard to compare. We all have our own strengths in that way,” he said.

One thing’s for sure, however, The Masked Singer “changed the game” for Lawrence when it comes to singing in the future, telling TooFab he would definitely say yes to new opportunities that come his way.

“Honestly, I spent two decades saying no to musicals and singing and all that kind of stuff. And now, you know, I’m thinking, I’m trying, I’m hitting myself going, ‘That was a mistake. You don’t do that. You don’t say no to these opportunities. You take them and you get over the fear. Don’t make decisions out of fear.’ That’s the big lesson to learn, at least from what I learned out of this experience. Because it was fun… and I’m so glad that I did it. So glad.”

The Masked Singer continues next Wednesday with “Soundtrack of My Life Night” at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.