Will Smith and Chris Rock’s feud over Jada dates back much farther than the Oscars slap

Jada Pinkett Smith has revealed that comedian Chris Rock once asked her out on a date when he believed she and Will Smith were getting a divorce.

The Hollywood couple, who were married in 1997, have long been fielding speculation that they were calling it quits.

Speaking to People, Jada detailed how her and Will’s relationship with Rock goes far beyond the infamous Oscars slap in 2022. “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 rumours.’ He was appalled. And he profusely apologised and that was that.”

The Girls Trip star, whose memoir Worthy is out 17 October, revealed that she hasn’t spoken to Rock since the Oscars incident in March 2022, when her husband struck him onstage after he made a joke about Jada’s shaved head.

“[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. “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.”

The actor, 52, was referencing the 2016 Academy Awards ceremony, when no actors of colour were nominated for an Oscar in any acting category. Jada became a vocal supporter of the #OscarsSoWhite movement and called for a boycott of the award show, which Rock just so happened to be hosting that year.

Rock claimed in his recent Netflix stand-up special, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, that Jada told him he should quit the hosting gig out of solidarity. However, she now admits to “not really recognising the level of pressure [Chris] 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,’” Jada said. “Me taking the time to have called him and said that, just to touch base, but his feelings might’ve been hurt.”

Jada went on to reveal that Rock had called her after their brief spat in 2016, and she thought they’d moved on from their disagreement. “He apologised and I apologised to him as well,” she said. “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.”

During the awards ceremony, Rock was presenting the Oscar for Best Documentary when he made a joke about Jada’s appearance. “Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can’t wait to see you,” he quipped, in an apparent reference to her shaved head. Will then walked onstage and slapped the comedian, yelling “keep my wife’s name out your f***ing mouth”.

When asked whether she was offended by Rock’s joke about her shaved head, given that she’s been open about her experience with alopecia, Jada brushed off the comedian’s criticism about her appearance.

“I mean, that’s what comedians do,” she said, adding: “I would just have to say that I am not really here to make any judgement on how people decide to express themselves and express their art. I’ll say that several times I’ve had my feelings hurt, for sure. I’ve had my feelings hurt a lot by Chris. But at the end of the day, too, being in the spotlight, it comes with the territory.”

In 2018, Jada first revealed that she was diagnosed with alopecia, a hair loss condition. She shaved her head in July 2021 “because it was time to let go”.

The Independent has contacted representatives for Chris Rock for comment.