Minnie Riperton, the five-octave singer best known for her single, “Lovin’ You,” was once nearly mauled by a lion at her promo shoot for her album “Adventures in Paradise.” On the classic album cover, the late singer is seen seated on a comfy chair with the lion beside her, both of them chilling. The tale to get the epic shot wasn’t as chill.

Reportedly, Riperton’s record company decided that they wanted to also shoot a commercial, showcasing the actual location and album cover setting with a lion to mirror the same look as the album cover, but in video form. She said, “Okay. I did it before. I’ll do it again as long as it’s the same lion.” 

Riperton recounted the episode on “The Mike Douglas Show,” and explained that the lion on the record cover was “Simba” and “very sweet,” but the troupe later “redid it…with a different lion” that apparently wasn’t as chill as Simba.

Footage from Riperton’s old shoot, which has drawn attention online more recently, showed how quickly the moment flipped from posed glamour to chaos. She said the animal “went for” her, the trainer panicked and the crew screamed, yet Riperton’s reaction was strikingly composed. “I wasn’t as frightened as everyone else.”

“It freaked me out,” she admitted, “but…I didn’t even scream… I’m cool, I’m cool, I’m cool.” When asked why the lion lunged, staff told her “he wanted to play with me.” 

In the clip, a man is seen immediately coming to Riperton’s defense. That man wasn’t the tamer, who Riperson said was across the room. That man was her husband, Richard Rudolph, who obviously didn’t play about his wife! Mike Douglas joked that Riperton needed to keep him!

Reports and later retrospectives note Riperton was not seriously injured and that the tamer quickly subdued the animal. The shocking incident has been circulating in vintage TV clips and music blogs as a legendary behind-the-scenes moment from the mid-1970s that is still highly regarded today as bravery on Minnie’s behalf.

That calm in crisis mirrors Riperton’s onstage persona, which has always been tender, brave, and unfailingly poised. Her “Adventures in Paradise” era came between her breakthrough “Perfect Angel” and later recordings. Riperton’s career and her life were tragically cut short by illness in 1979, but her fans and lore keep her alive.