Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals Chris Rock Asked Her On A Date Years Before Will Smith Slapped Him At The Oscars: “He Was Like, ‘I’d Love To Take You Out'”

Jada Pinkett Smith’s upcoming memoir Worthy will shed light on her storied love life and her shocking separation from Will Smith. But if their unofficial divorce wasn’t surprising enough for fans, the actress’ memoir reveals that a certain actor tried to shoot his shot amid their separation rumors: none other than Chris Rock.

The actress shared the surprising news in her book, but speaking to People, she further explained that Rock had reached out one summer amid rumors that she and Smith were getting a divorce.

“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,” she recalled. “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 rumors,'” she said. The actress said that Rock “was appalled” to learn this. “He profusely apologized and that was that.”

This occurred prior to the infamous 2022 Oscars, where Smith slapped Rock on stage after he made a joke about Pinkett Smith. The actress revealed she and Rock haven’t spoken since that fateful evening.

“[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 told People.

She also revealed he came downstage directly after the slap happened to try and apologize to her, but she was focused on staying calm after she realized the slap wasn’t the planned skit as she originally thought it was.

“Chris came down to the end of the stage and tried to apologize to me. He said, ‘I didn’t mean you any harm.’ I said, ‘I can’t talk about this now, Chris. This is some old shit,'” she said.

She added that she thought this was because she had asked him to turn down hosting the Oscars in 2016 in support of the #OscarsSoWhite movement she promoted, but she now believes the Oscars slap stemmed from “stuff” Smith and Rock “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,” she added.

The Smiths have been separated since 2016, though they have yet to get an official divorce.

Regarding her ex-husband, Pinkett Smith said, “I’m going to be by his side, but also allow him to have to figure this out for himself. [I’m] finding a way to support him without trying to take away or deal with it for him, what he has to be with.”

Pinkett Smith’s new memoir Worthy will hit shelves on Oct. 17.