Jada Pinkett Smith is drawing renewed attention after revealing that Chris Rock once asked her out on a date during a period when he believed she and Will Smith were separating.
The revelation comes as Jada Pinkett Smith promotes her memoir Worthy and participates in a series of interviews following the cancellation of Red Table Talk. In a candid conversation, she confirmed that she and Will Smith have been separated since 2016, describing the split as a point where both had grown “exhausted with trying,” though it was not formalized through a legal divorce.
According to Jada, Chris Rock reached out during that period amid widespread rumors about the state of her marriage. She recalled that he called her directly and expressed interest in taking her out, prompting confusion on her end as she questioned what he meant. The moment, she explained, happened years before the widely publicized incident at the Academy Awards in 2022.
That ceremony became a defining moment in the ongoing public narrative involving the three figures, when Will Smith walked onstage and struck Chris Rock following a joke made about Jada. Addressing the aftermath, she said she has not spoken to Chris Rock since that night and expressed no current desire to engage, adding that her focus is on clearing up misunderstandings and moving toward peace.
Jada also pointed to earlier tensions, suggesting there may have been lingering miscommunication dating back to the 2016 Oscars, where she believes Chris Rock may have taken offense despite no intention to cause harm. She framed the situation as a long-standing misunderstanding rather than a recent development.
Recent online claims have resurfaced the story without that context, leading to confusion about the timing of Chris Rock’s interest. Reports indicate that his approach occurred before the 2022 incident, not after, and there is no evidence to support claims of any romantic gesture following the onstage altercation. Since the Oscars moment, Chris Rock has largely kept his distance from the Smiths, with little indication of revisiting the situation publicly.
