Sterling K. Brown’s admiration for Halle Bailey’s ‘Little Mermaid’ performance brought her to tears

By Megan Thomas, CNN

(CNN) — Halle Bailey and Sterling K. Brown could start a fan club for one another.

Brown, his wife Ryan Michelle Bathe and Bailey shared an endearing moment on the red carpet at Saturday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards, where “The Little Mermaid” star was overcome with admiration upon seeing the couple.

The three were speaking with Entertainment Tonight’s Nischelle Turner, when Brown and Bathe told Bailey, 23, how much they loved her performance in the Disney live-action remake of the animated classic.

“She’s lovely,” Brown said. “She represented so well for us. I mean, we were streaming tears at the end of it because you were beautiful. Your soul is beautiful, your talent was radiant.”

Visibly moved, Bailey expressed her gratitude for the compliments.

“If you had done it and you were bad, nobody would be messing. But you killed it!” Brown joked, before reenacting the scene in the movie when Ariel emerges from the water on a rock while singing, “Part of Your World.”

Bathe also showered Bailey with praise and noted her historic casting.

“You don’t understand, I watched that movie every single day from the age of like 12 to 16,” Bathe said, as she held back tears. “I didn’t think I’d see us. And not only was it us, it was so you. You brought you and then you brought us in bringing you.”

“It was unspeakable joy for me,” Bathe added.

Bailey said it was her first time at the SAG Awards. She was nominated for with the cast of “The Color Purple” for best ensemble performance in a film.

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