He called her up – then she shut him down
Jada Pinkett Smith has told how Chris Rock called her up and asked to take her out on a date, before the infamous ‘Oscars slap’ involving her husband Will Smith.
The 52-year-old, who made global headlines Wednesday by revealing she and Smith have been secretly separated for seven years, has revealed another juicy nugget of Hollywood gossip about Rock.
Jada is busy promoting her new book, Worthy, due for release Tuesday.
The mum-of-two said the comedian made a move after hearing rumours that she and the I Am Legend star had split.
The Gotham star quickly shut him down.
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In an interview with People, Jada explained that in 2016, Tinsel Town was abuzz with rumours that she and Will were no more, and had chosen to separate – rumours that are now facts.
While Jada ignored the chatter, Chris decided to take his shot and phone her up.
Jada recalled: “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.”
Jada continued: “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’.”
Rather than slink away to die of embarrassment, Rock is said to have apologised and said he was “appalled” by the mix-up.
That was all water under the bridge, Jada later called for Rock to boycott the 2016 Oscars, after no actors of colour were nominated for the coveted award. Will had also been snubbed that year, despite appearing in the critically praised drama Concussion.
Rock ignored the calls and even made a joke about Jada in his Netflix comedy special years later. When he hosted the Oscars in 2022 he made another joke at Jada’s expense, referring to her alopecia, in a gag about GI Jane.
Smith later slapped Rock on stage, and incident that led to him being banned from the ceremony for a decade.
Jade told People: “[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.”
