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A public breakup. A hit Netflix special and reeling in from the effects of the Oscar Slap, many comedy fans might be wondering: who is Chris Rock’s wife?
In March 2023, Rock released his second Netflix comedy special Selective Outrage. Throughout his set, the comedian teased some jokes alluding to the slap by saying “words hurt. Anybody who says that words hurt has never been punched in the face.” He ended his set by calling Smith “Suge Smith”, a reference to the currently-incarcerated Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, who was sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2018 for manslaughter. Rock alleged that Smith was taking out his anger over his wife’s “entanglement’ with musician August Alsina which was discussed on her show Red Table Talk in 2020.
Though Rock had a very rocky and private marriage himself, he was open to talk about the marriage’s failures and divorce. So who is Chris Rock’s ex-wife? Read more below to find out.
Who is Chris Rock’s ex-wife?
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Who is Chris Rock’s ex-wife? Chris Rock’s ex-wife is Malaak Compton-Rock who is a former publicist turned philanthropist.
Compton-Rock met the comedian when he crashed the Essence part in 1997 according to a Rolling Stone profile. They courted bicoastally (she traveled often for her work, coordinating celebrity representatives such as actor Laurence Fishburne for UNICEF). She gushed about their relationship to the outlet. “I feel like I know his father,” she said. “I don’t think a day goes by that one of the brothers is not telling a story about his dad. He and his brothers Andre and Tony are just incredibly tight. Their dad stressed togetherness, and they’re just really beautiful together.”
Compton-Rock pivoted to philanthropy when founded the Angelrock Project Foundation, serving youth from low socio-economic backgrounds in the US and South Africa, in 2008. She is also a board member of the Children’s Defense Fund New York and the author of If It Takes a Village, Build One: How I Found Meaning Through a Life of Service and 100+ Ways You Can Too, which was released in 2010.
“The best part is just having a partner,” Rock said in 2007 of being married. “There is no real worst part. I’m not going to say there’s a worst part. I mean, I’m a comedian – comedians like to work alone. So maybe I’m not the ideal guy to be married to, in that sense.”
How many children do Chris Rock & Malaak Compton-Rock have?
How many children do Chris Rock and Malaak Compton-Rock have? Chris Rock and Malaak Compton Rock have two children together, Lola Simone Rock and Zahra Savannah Rock. Compton-Rock has one adopted daughter from South Africa, Ntobi.
In his Netflix special, Rock also speaks about his children and how he made one of them get kicked out of school, saying, “I love my kids, I love my kids, but I don’t like them. I don’t like my kids. You know the reason I don’t like my kids? Because my kids are rich. My kids are rich and spoiled. I know some people are like ‘Chris, you’re rich.’ Yeah, I’m rich. But I identify as poor. My pronouns are ‘broke.’”
Why did Chris Rock & Malaak Compton-Rock divorce?
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Why did Chris Rock and Malaak Compton-Rock divorce? Rock filed for divorce in 2014. “After much contemplation and 19 years of marriage, Chris and I have decided to go our separate ways. Being fortunate enough to lead a life of service by working with those most vulnerable makes me well aware of life’s blessings, even when faced with difficulties,” Compton-Rock said in a statement at the time. “While recognizing that this is a significant change, my children remain at the center of my life and their well-being is my top priority. It is in this spirit that I sincerely ask that their privacy and the privacy of our family be respected during this transition in our lives.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone he admitted that he cheated on his wife as well as had a pornography addiction that contributed to the downfall of his marriage. He considered his Total Blackout comedy tour in 2014 “the alimony tour. I’ve got to make some money first… Getting divorced, you have to fucking start over,” he told the magazine. “You get to reset. It’s not a breakdown, but something in your life broke down.”
“You don’t want to get divorced, I tell you right now,” Rock tells the audience at his set of his comedy special Tambourine. “If you’ve got somebody you love, hold tight. I had to pay for a lawyer to divorce me,” he says. “That’s like hiring a hitman to kill you.”
“I was not a good husband,” Rock said. Then he gets more specific: “I was addicted to porn. When you’re in a relationship, you’re in a band,” Rock explained in his comedy special Tambourine. “And when you’re in a band, you have roles that you play in the band. Sometimes you sing lead and sometimes you’re on tambourine (hence the special’s name). And if you’re on tambourine, play it right … ’cause nobody wants to see a mad tambourine player.”
“It was my fault, I was a piece of shit,” Rock told on his comedy tour in 2014. “Was it my fault?” He lets it hang in the air for a moment. Then he mumbles, “Who the fuck knows.” He spoke of how the divorce affected his public image. “My faults are magnified. Your significant other, if they really love you, has a high opinion of you. And you let them down.”
The divorce was finalized in 2016. He talked about his infidelity more in his special, where Rolling Stone described it that it “gets disarmingly specific, describing three women: one famous, one semifamous, and one a member of the retail class.” He says, “Would I ever get married again? Not if it would cure AIDS.”
What was Chris Rock & Malaak Compton-Rock’s divorce settlement?
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How much did Chris Rock’s divorce cost him? It’s reported that he paid a huge chunk for the divorce settlement. Divorce papers obtained by Page Six say she and Rock agreed to 50-50 child custody. The court filings say Compton-Rock deserves a payout “commensurate with the marital standard of living” because of all her child-rearing and charitable endeavors.
He claimed that he “bought a house around the corner” in his first Netflix comedy special so that the divorce would be “smooth,” or easier on his family. “It wasn’t enough,” he says. A family court judge wanted pictures of the beds where his daughters would be sleeping as well as pictures of his refrigerator and the food inside. I’m like, ‘What have you heard about me?’” he quipped. “I’m Chris Rock, not Chris Brown. “But it worked out, I got my kids.”
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