CNN –
According to Pinkett Smith, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s marriage has been a topic of interest to many in recent years, even Chris Rock.
“Every summer there were reports coming out that me and Will were getting a divorce,” Pinkett Smith told People magazine. “And this special summer, Chris [Rock], he thought we were getting a divorce. So he called me and basically said, ‘I’d like to take you out.'”
Pinkett Smith said she was surprised by the call.
“I thought, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, “Well, aren’t you and Will getting divorced?” I said, “No. “Chris, these are just rumors,” recalls Pinket Smith. “He was horrified. And he apologized profusely and that was it.”
CNN has reached out to representatives for Rock for comment.
Pinkett Smith writes about the encounter in her upcoming memoir, “Worthy.”
Her husband Will Smith slapped Rock while presenting an award during the 2022 Academy Awards after Rock made a joke about Pinkett Smith being bald. She suffers from alopecia, which has caused hair loss.
Pinkett Smith told People that she believes there was “a misunderstanding between Chris and I regarding the 2016 Oscars.”
Watch Will Smith’s apology to Chris Rock
This year, Rock hosted the awards show and Pinkett Smith called for a boycott as part of the #OscarsSoWhite movement after her husband was overlooked for a nomination for his performance in “Concussion.”
She now says she may not have been aware of the “pressure” Rock may have been under at the time.
“I probably should have called him and said, ‘Hey, are you OK?'” she said. “And know that even though I’m talking about the Oscars, I wish you the best and I want you to know that,” I took the time to call him and say that, just to set the record straight touch. But his feelings might have been hurt.”
The couple spoke and apologized after the incident in 2016, she said.
Pinkett Smith said Rock tried to speak to her to apologize during a break at the 2022 Oscars after the slap.
“He said, ‘I didn’t mean any harm to you.’ I said, ‘I can’t talk about that now, Chris.’ That’s old crap,” she told People. “I thought it was like that [about] the 2016 Oscar and… their stuff that they had before I even came on the scene in the late ’80s. I’ll have to let Will and Chris talk about that, but they definitely have their stuff.”
Her memoir is scheduled to be published on October 17th.