Chris Rock Went to Counseling After Will Smith Slap, Says Leslie Jones

In the months following the infamous Oscars slap, Chris Rock reportedly went to counseling to help recover from the incident. That much came from Rock’s close friend Leslie Jones, who recently revealed to People that she was “infuriated” by Will Smith’s actions at the 2022 Academy Awards.

“You don’t know that I was going to jump in my car and roll up there. I was so f—ing mad on so many levels,” Jones told the magazine in a recent chat. “For a long a– time I was just mad. Chris Rock did a f—ing joke. I know Will, too… I was like, you couldn’t handle that s–t afterwards. This is the Oscars. The whole world is watching.”

Jones went on to explain just how damaging the slap was to Rock’s psyche, suggesting her friend was forced to seek help after.

“That s–t was humiliating. It really affected him. People need to understand his daughters, his parents, saw that. He had to go to counseling with his daughters,” the SNL alumnus added. “Everybody got pissed off about him doing a special. That’s what comedians do. Instead of us going crazy we f—ing go talk about it on the f—ing stage. Thank God we’ve got the stage.”

Rock addressed the incident for the first time at length in Netflix’s Chris Rock: Selective Outrage stand-up special, which streamed live earlier this year.

“Y’all know what happened to me. Getting smacked by Suge Smith. Everybody knows. Yes! It happened,” Rock say during an extended bit at the end of the special. “I got smacked like a year ago. Felt like last week I got smacked at the f–king Oscars by this mother f–ker. People like ‘Did it hurt?’ It still hurts! I got ‘Summertime’ ringing in my ear. F–king drums, please! But I’m not a victim baby. You won’t ever see me on Oprah or Gail, crying. You’ll never see it. Never gonna happen. ‘I couldn’t believe it, and I love Men in Black.’ No. It’s never gonna happen. No. F*** that s***, I took that hit like Pacquiao.”

Chris Rock: Selective Outrage is now streaming on Netflix.