Jada Pinkett & Chris Rock Almost Dated Amid Will Smith Divorce Rumors

What happened between Chris Rock & Jada Pinkett Smith?

In a new interview with People and in her book, Jada Pinkett Smith revealed that Chris Rock asked her out after he thought that she was divorcing Will Smith. “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 rumors.’ He was appalled. And he profusely apologized and that was that.”

She also talked about her friendship with Rock before the slap. “I talk about this in the book, I think that there might be some misunderstanding between Chris and I as far as the 2016 Oscars. I think that he might’ve taken offense, which I meant no harm in offending. That wasn’t my intention. But I do think that there’s a big misunderstanding there,” she told the site.

In 2016, Pinkett Smith took part in boycotting the Oscars in response to #OscarsSoWhite and her husband’s role in Concussion being overlooked. She contacted Rock who hosted the awards show and asked him to boycott too but she admitted she did “not really recognizing the level of pressure [Rock] might’ve been under” at the time.

“I probably should have called him and gone, ‘Hey, are you okay? 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,” she says.

She continued, “All we can ever do is just look at our part and see where could I have done something that would’ve seemed as if… Whatever misunderstanding might’ve been created, what could I have done to avoid that misunderstanding? The one thing that I think about is that call. He apologized and I apologized to him as well. So I actually thought that we were good, that the hatchet was buried between us. And we hadn’t talked since then, until 2022 came.”

She talked about the aftermath of the infamous slap. “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 s—.’ 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.”

What happened during the Oscars Slap?

Will Smith and Chris Rock’s slap incident occurred live at the 94th Annual Academy Awards Ceremony on March 27, 2022, when the Saturday Night Live alum made a distasteful joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. “Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see ya,” Rock said in part, making a comparison between Jada’s shaved head and actress Demi Moore’s buzz cut in the 1997 movie, G.I. Jane. Pinkett Smith, for her part, has gone public with her years-long struggle with alopecia, an autoimmune disorder that attacks hair follicles and can result in hair loss and balding. She was visibly upset at Rock’s comment, rolling her eyes from her seat as he defended the joke. Smith then stepped on stage to slap the comedian.

Smith publicly apologized to Rock on March 28, 2022, on his Instagram. “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be,” he wrote. “There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.” Smith continued, “I would also like to apologize to the Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees and everyone watching around the world.”

The Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences banned Smith from future events for the next ten years. In an open letter, the Academy announced, “The Board has decided, for a period of 10 years from April 8, 2022, Mr. Smith shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs, in person or virtually, including but not limited to the Academy Awards.” The Academy apologized to Rock, the rest of the Academy and the public for the moment: “We want to express our deep gratitude to Mr. Rock for maintaining his composure under extraordinary circumstances. We also want to thank our hosts, nominees, presenters and winners for their poise and grace during our telecast.” Smith accepted the ban as he previously resigned from The Academy on April 1, 2022.

On June 1, 2022, Pinkett Smith opened up about her thoughts about the infamous Oscars slap. She expressed her thoughts about alopecia in the cold open of Red Table Talk, “Considering what I’ve been through with my own health and what happened at the Oscars, thousands have reached out to me with their stories. I’m using this moment to give our alopecia family an opportunity to talk about what it’s like to have this condition and to inform people about what alopecia actually is.” She then directly referred to her husband and Rock, urging them to reconcile. “Now, about Oscar night, my deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men have an opportunity to heal, talk this out and reconcile. The state of the world today, we need them both. And we all actually need one other more than ever. Until then, Will and I are continuing to do what we have done for the last 28 years, and that’s keep figuring this thing called life together.”

In an excerpt of her new memoir Worthy obtained by People, The Matrix Ressurections actress revealed how she reacted to the Slap in real-time. “It’s not until Will yells from his seat back up at Chris to “keep my wife’s name out your f—in’ mouth,” and then repeats it, that I perceive the gravity of the situation, and that, no, it had not been a skit. Even so, I am unclear on the reason why Will is so upset. We had been living separate lives and were there as family, not as husband and wife. But when I hear Will yell “wife” in the chaos of the moment, an internal shift of Oh s— . . . I am his wife! happens instantly.”

Worthy by Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada Pinkett Smith was living what many would view as a fairy-tale of Hollywood success. But appearances can be deceiving, and as she felt more and more separated from her sense of self, emotional turmoil took hold. Sparing no detail, Worthy chronicles her life—from a rebellious youth running the Baltimore streets as an observer and participant in the drug trade, to the deep bond she shared with Tupac Shakur from the moment they met, to her move to Los Angeles and the successful career she built on her own terms, to becoming the wife of superstar Will Smith and mother to Jaden, Willow and bonus-mom to Trey . A rollercoaster from the depths of suicidal depression to the heights of self-acceptance and spiritual healing, Worthy is a woman’s journey to finding herself again.