Jada Pinkett Smith Says Chris Rock Asked Her Out During Divorce Rumors

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have been one of Hollywood’s most popular couples for decades. The duo tied the knot in 1997 and have two kids together, Jaden Smith and Willow Smith. There have been many rumors about their relationship over the years, and Pinkett Smith recently opened up about their life, revealing they’ve been separated for seven years. Last year, the Smiths made headlines when Will slapped Chris Rock during the Oscars after the comedian took a jab at Pinkett Smith’s baldness, with sources later claiming he was unaware that she had Alopecia. During a recent interview with People that teases her upcoming memoir, Worthy, Pinket Smith revealed that Rock actually asked her out amid rumors that she was getting a divorce.

“Every summer all the reports would come out that me and Will were getting a divorce,” Pinkett Smith shared. “And this particular summer, Chris [Rock], he thought that we were getting a divorce. So he called me and basically he was like, ‘I’d love to take you out.’”

“I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He was like, ‘Well, aren’t you and Will getting a divorce?’ I was like, ‘No. Chris, those are just rumors,’” Pinket Smith recalled. “He was appalled. And he profusely apologized and that was that.”

Pinket Smith went on to explain that she believes there was a “misunderstanding between Chris and I as far as the 2016 Oscars.” Pinkett Smith called for a boycott of the ceremony due to the #OscarsSoWhite movement and the fact that Will Smith did not receive a nomination for Concussion. However, Rock was hosting that year, and she now feels she should have reached out to him during that time due to the “level of pressure” he was likely under.

“I probably should have called him and gone, ‘Hey, are you okay?,’” Pinket Smith explained. “And just know that although I’m speaking out about the Oscars, I do wish you the best and I just want you to know that,’ me taking the time to have called him and said that, just to touch base. But his feelings might’ve been hurt.”

Pinkett Smith and Rock apparently apologized to each other after the 2016 Oscars, and the comedian attempted to speak to her during the commercial break after the infamous slap during the 2022 Oscars.

“He said, ‘I didn’t mean you any harm.’ I said, ‘I can’t talk about this now, Chris. This is some old sh*t,’” Pinkett Smith recalled. “I thought this was [about] the Oscar 2016 and … their stuff that they had before I even came into the picture in the late ’80s. I’ve got to leave that to Will and Chris to talk about, but they got their stuff for sure.”

Pinkett Smith also told Today (via Variety) that she initially thought the slap was part of a skit until her husband returned to his seat. 

“I thought, ‘This is a skit,’” Pinkett Smith recalled. “I was like, ‘There’s no way that Will hit him.’ It wasn’t until Will started to walk back to his chair that I even realized it wasn’t a skit.” She added, “I’m going to be by his side … But also allow him to have to figure this out for himself.”