President Barack Obama told Linda Ronstadt he had “a little crush” on her in his younger days while awarding her with the National Medal of the Arts Monday afternoon.

Obama's Crush On Linda Rondstadt

Ronstadt was at the White House Monday to accept a National Medal of the Arts. After Obama placed the medal around Ronstadt’s neck, he admitted to the musician that he once harbored a crush for her. "I told Linda Ronstadt I had a little crush on her back in the day,” Obama told the crowd that had congregated in the East Room, reported CNN.

Ronstadt, according to a White House press release, was receiving the National Medal of the Arts for her “one-of-a-kind voice and her decades of remarkable music.”

“Drawing from a broad range of influences, Ms. Ronstadt defied expectations to conquer American radio waves and help pave the way for generations of women artists,” continued the endorsement of the singer, who was unable to attend her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction earlier this year due to her battle with Parkinson’s disease.

The other 11 honorees for the 2013 National Medal of the Arts were the Brooklyn Academy of Music, novelist Julia Alvarez, arts patron Joan Harris, dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones, composer John Kander, Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, writer Maxine Hong Kingston, documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles, architects Billie Tsien and Tod Williams and visual artist James Turrell.

"Moments of understanding or awe or joy or sorrow, they add texture to our lives. They are not incidental to the American experience, they are central to it. They are essential to it,” said Obama at the ceremony. “So we not only congratulate you this afternoon, we thank you for an extraordinary lifetime of achievement."