Jada Pinkett Smith says Chris Rock once asked her out amid Will Smith divorce rumors

Jada Pinkett Smith and Chris Rock have a long history together. The pair co-starred in the "Madagascar" animated movies starting in 2005, and their paths would continue to cross in the years that followed, coming to a bitter halt when Pinkett Smith's husband, Will Smith, slapped Rock during the 2022 Oscars ceremony.

The incident occurred after Rock made a joke during the awards show about Pinkett Smith's hair; her head is shaved due to the autoimmune condition alopecia. During the live telecast, Smith struck Rock in one the most shocking moments in television history.

In the walk-up to the release of her memoir, "Worthy," on Oct. 17, Pinkett Smith has been opening up. In a new interview with People, she shared more about her relationship with Rock prior to the Oscars slap, including the fact that Rock once asked her out on a date amid rumors that she and Smith were divorcing.

“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 told People.

Gossip about a rocky marriage between Smith and Pinkett Smith had long circled in tabloids, while both denied the rumors. Pinkett Smith, however, revealed this week in a NBC News exclusive interview with Hoda Kotb that she and Smith had been separated since 2016, though they remain legally married.

The complicated history between Smith, Pinkett Smith and Rock goes back to the 2016 Oscars, when Pinkett Smith found herself the target of Rock's comedy. During a monologue, Rock — who was hosting the ceremony that year — cracked jokes about her boycott of the awards show over a lack of diversity among nominees.

During the monologue, Rock remarked, “Jada’s going to boycott the Oscars? Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited.”

Rock continued by suggesting Pinkett Smith had really skipped the ceremony because her husband wasn’t nominated for his role in the movie “Concussion.”

“It’s not fair that Will was this good and didn’t get nominated. You’re right. It’s also not fair that Will was paid $20 million for ‘Wild Wild West,’ OK?” he said, referring to one of Smith’s box-office disappointments.

Prior to the 2016 Oscars, Pinkett Smith made a video explaining why she wasn't going to attend. In it, she addressed Rock directly saying, “I can’t think of a better man to do the job at hand this year than you, my friend. Good luck."

In hindsight, she told People in this week's cover story that rather than address him publicly, she probably should have reached out directly instead.

“I probably should have called him and gone, ‘Hey, are you OK? 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," she told People.

In the wake of the 2016 Oscars, Pinkett Smith told People that Rock "apologized and I apologized to him as well,” for the misunderstanding, and that she thought "that the hatchet was buried between us."

At least until the night of March 27, 2022, when the course of their relationship changed forever due to a slap and an outraged Smith, who shouted at Rock, "Keep my wife’s name out your f---ing mouth."

In the 2023 Netflix comedy special, “Selective Outrage,” Rock references the infamous moment, once more suggesting that Pinkett Smith was disgruntled over Smith not receiving an Oscar nomination for “Concussion,” and that she’s largely to blame for everything that’s transpired since.

“Who gives a f---? That’s how it is. She started it. I finish it. OK? That’s what the f--- happened. She started this s---. Nobody was pickin’ on her. Nobody was pickin’ on her,” says Rock.

As for Pinkett Smith, she addressed the incident on "Red Table Talk" in June of 2022, saying: "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 another more than ever.

TODAY.com has reached out to Chris Rock for comment, but has not heard back at the time of publication.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com