Rosario Monachino
Jada Pinkett Smith claims that Chris Rock asked her out on a date when rumours started to circulate that she and Will Smith were going through a divorce.
The Matrix actress, 52, has been married to the Independence Day actor, 55, since 1997 – but the status of their relationship has always been subject to speculation.
There were reports that she had a fling with singer August Alsina while married to Smith – and she later admitted that she felt ‘under pressure’ to marry him as she was pregnant with their son Jaden.
In anticipation of her book ‘Worthy’ coming out, Pinkett Smith has given an exclusive interview to People where she has opened up about her relationship with the Men In Black actor – as well as her history with her Madagascar co-star Rock.
Smith made headlines all across the world when he slapped the comedian at the Oscars after he made a joke about Pinkett Smith’s battle with alopecia.
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When asked if she had spoken to the Grown Ups actor since the incident, she said no and added: “[Do I have] any desire to talk to Chris? Here’s my desire: I just hope that all the misunderstanding around this can be cleared up and that there can be peace.”
She then mentioned that there might be a ‘misunderstanding’ between her and Rock since the 2016 Oscars – when Smith was snubbed of a Best Actor nomination for his film Concussion – and the acting nominations had no actors of colour.
This led to Pinkett Smith supporting the #OscarsSoWhite movement and calling for viewers to boycott the show – which was hosted by Rock.
However, she told People that the pair apologised to each other following the 2016 Oscars.
“So I actually thought that we were good, that the hatchet was buried between us,” Pinkett Smith continued.
“And we hadn’t talked since then, until 2022 came.”
She also claimed that Rock once asked her out on a date following reports that she and Smith had split up.
Pinkett Smith explained: “I think every summer all the reports would come out that me and Will were getting a divorce. And this particular summer, Chris, he thought that we were getting a divorce.
“So he called me and basically he was like, ‘I’d love to take you out’. And 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 rumours’. He was appalled. And he profusely apologised and that was that.”
This comes after the Girls Trip actress revealed that she and Smith have been separated for seven years.
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In an exclusive interview with Today, Pinkett Smith revealed to interviewer Hado Kotb that she and her husband have lived ‘completely different’ lives since 2016 and that they are no longer romantically together.
“By the time we got to 2016, we were just exhausted with trying. I think we were both kind of just still stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be,” Pinkett Smith explained.
When asked by the presenter why the pair haven’t gone public with their relationship status, she said: “[It’s] just not being ready yet… Still trying to figure out between the two of us how to be in partnership.”
However, in a separate interview with People, the Collateral star shared that she and Smith have been trying to work things out following the infamous Oscars slap.
“We’re still figuring it out,” Pinkett Smith added.
“We’ve been doing some really heavy-duty work together. We just got deep love for each other and we are going to figure out what that looks like for us.”
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