Did you know that Chris Rock was bullied growing up?
How about the fact that his three-year stint on SNL was an unhappy one?
Curious to know more heartbreaking details about Chris Rock?
Keep watching.
Chris Rock dealt with bullying as a kid growing up in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
Attending an all-white school, Rock's bullying experience began in second grade and lasted
until high school, where he eventually dropped out during 10th grade.
In an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, he called those years "a horrible existence"
and related them to Tim Robbins' experience in The Shawshank Redemption.
Rock said he was regularly called the N-word and had to endure beatings.
Rock said that he discovered one of his former bullies working as a security guard on his
movie set — a bully who used to shake Rock upside-down to steal his money.
Rock said the bully appeared ashamed and acknowledged him politely, leaving Rock aware that the
man's embarrassment was punishment enough.
"It's like, his sin has punished him.
He could've been my friend."
During an appearance on Inside the Actors Studio, Rock claimed that those years were
formative for him and credited his bullies' abuse for his drive for success and his wit.
In his standup special, Tambourine, Rock decried coddling in modern parenting and believed
that most people who are successful have dealt with bullying at some point, since adversity
prepares them for adulthood.
Chris Rock received a breakthrough into comedy when he was invited onto the cast of Saturday
Night Live in 1990.
His cast mates included SNL titans and lifelong friends Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, and David
Spade.
However, Rock was the only Black cast member on the show in four years, the last being
Danitra Vance who left in 1986.
With his unique position, Rock was constantly pigeonholed as legendary comedian Eddie Murphy's
successor.
But the two comics had completely different styles, and Rock felt the sketch-comedy show
never played to his strengths.
Additionally, his ideas were sidelined, and the roles he was given were stereotypical.
He was asked to play a Ubangi tribesman, which Rock said felt racist since he was the only
Black actor, according to his interview with the podcast "WTF with Marc Maron."
The newer sketch comedy show In Living Color provided Rock with the opportunity to broadcast
his comedic style.
Rock told Maron that compared to SNL, In Living Color was "blacker," and he wanted to be in
a place where he no longer had to "translate the comedy [he] wanted to do."
When Rock made his plans to join In Living Color known to SNL producers, he was formally
fired, ending a three-season career.
Unfortunately for Chris Rock, his plans to project his true comedic voice on a competing
sketch-comedy show were short-lived.
He only appeared in six episodes when In Living Color was suddenly canceled.
During Adam Sandler's monologue on SNL in 2019, Rock joked about his abrupt post-SNL
failure, singing,
"Then I went on 'In Living Color.'
Three weeks later they took it off TV."
After that failed stint, Rock entered a transition period of sorts until he would ultimately
find stardom.
He first wrote and starred in the comedy film CB4 in 1993 about wannabe rappers.
The film received lukewarm reviews from The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times,
the latter of which accused CB4 of being formulaic.
He then covered the 1996 presidential campaign for Comedy Central's Politically Incorrect.
He also made an HBO comedy special in 1994.
However, none of these projects made the sort of impact Rock was perhaps hoping for.
Afterward, he went on tour at small venues in order to bolster his career and hone his
craft, leading to his big break — the 1996 HBO special Bring the Pain.
Chris Rock knew the night he spent at Chris Farley's Chicago apartment would be their
last time together.
In an "Explain This" video for Esquire, Rock recalled leaving Farley's apartment after
being given a tour and catching a glimpse of his friend from his window.
He thought to himself,
"I was like, ah, that's probably the last time I'm going to see him."
He said they tried to meet later, but due to Farley's addiction, those plans never came
through.
Farley died of a cocaine and morphine overdose on December 18, 1997.
Rock and Farley, along with Adam Sandler and David Spade, were known as "The Bad Boys of
SNL," creating a legendary era for the historic sketch comedy show.
The office they shared together was fondly nicknamed "the dorm."
Friends for life, all three castmates were present for Farley's Hollywood Walk of Fame
ceremony in August 2005, where he was honored posthumously with a star.
Referencing Farley's tendency to use his physical size for comedic advantage, Rock said,
"I think every fat comedian owes him 80 bucks that's working today."
Chris Rock filed for divorce in December 2014, ending his 18-year marriage to Malaak Compton.
The divorce took nearly two years to get finalized and included a custody battle for their two
daughters.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Rock admitted that he wasn't a good husband at times.
He had extramarital affairs with several women, believing he was sanctioned for bad behavior
due to his wealth and fame.
Rock said his now-former wife wanted 52% of custody of their children, and he cried during
the custody battle.
However, he said that a divorce provided the opportunity to start over in his career, saying
"It's not a breakdown, but something in your life broke down."
He later bought a house in New Jersey close to his ex-wife in order to be near his daughters.
Shortly after, Rock started doing bits during his shows concerning the separation — which
included faulting himself for his relationship's failure and observing how much his ex-wife
hated him — but he eventually stopped talking about his marriage noting,
"It's not fair.
I have a mic, she doesn't."
In his Netflix special, Tambourine, Rock detailed the circumstances that led to the divorce,
including a porn addiction.
He said watching a lot of porn numbed him toward sexuality, which led to poor social
communication, which he called, quote, "sexual autism."
In 2014, Chris Rock skipped ahead of the cultural zeitgeist when it came to race relations in
Hollywood — months before the #OscarsSoWhite campaign gripped the industry — and wrote
an essay in The Hollywood Reporter about being Black in Hollywood.
The magazine described his chosen topic as "Hollywood's third rail," but it feels prescient
in hindsight.
In the piece, Rock labeled Hollywood "a white industry."
He also accused Hollywood of hiring the same Black actors consistently while not giving
others a way in.
He bemoaned the lack of Black men hired for management roles, alleging that these opportunities
are usually given to Black women with Ivy League backgrounds.
He also said that Black-led films are scrutinized to a degree that white-majority films aren't,
and Black actors are always hired deliberately and never on a "short-list" with white actors.
In the essay, Rock relates a time when he wanted a role in the 2004 film Starsky & Hutch
but was only offered the opportunity to play Huggy Bear.
At the BET Awards in 2019, he made a joke at Jussie Smollett's expense, saying Smollett
was "a waste of light skin."
Rock joked that if he had Smollett's skin color, he would have taken over Hollywood
by now.
Chris Rock began therapy after testing himself for Asperger's, according to an interview
in The Telegraph.
Instead, he was diagnosed with non-verbal learning disorder, which affects one's ability
to understand non-verbal communication and notice visual patterns.
His diagnoses made him realize that the disorder affected his behavior in relationships.
In the past, whenever he received personal criticism, he just figured it was because
he was a celebrity and assumed people misunderstood who he truly was.
According to Rock, he now realizes that he's responsible for how others view him.
The diagnosis also led him to seeking therapy, which involved sessions seven hours a week.
It allowed him to confront childhood trauma that had long remained dormant.
During an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Rock said he suffered from a "big ego" and
"low self-esteem."
His self-worth stems from his work as a comedian; off the stage, however, Rock struggles with
the idea of deserving attention or affection.
In an interview with Gayle King on CBS, Rock said that he's forgiven his bullies.
"I'm going to sit here and I'm going to assume all my bullies are better people."
Chris Rock's mother, Rose, was once diagnosed with cancer.
To make matters worse, it coincided with his divorce negotiations.
Rose received treatment at Sloan Kettering in New York, which was on the same street
as Rock's divorce lawyer, and his mother stayed with him in the same New Jersey home he bought
after his divorce while he took care of her.
He said he prayed that his daughters were at their mother's in case their grandmother
died.
Thankfully, she recovered.
Rose Rock published a book with Harper Collins, titled Mama Rock Rules: Ten Secrets for Raising
a Houseful of Successful Children.
"You know my claim to fame really is being Chris Rock's mom but I'm so much more than
that."
In an interview with The New York Daily News, Rose said her son's sense of humor began as
a defense mechanism.
His small stature made him vulnerable to teasing, so he used comedy to gain an upper hand.
She once believed he'd become a writer, noting that he used to load papers for the Daily
News while his father served as a driver.
On September 19, 2021, Chris Rock alerted the world of his COVID-19 infection through
his Twitter account, tweeting:
"Hey guys I just found out I have COVID, trust me you don't want this.
Get vaccinated."
Rock was immunized at the time, as he received the vaccine in May 2021.
When he was on The Tonight Show, he joked about using his fame to get a vaccine quickly,
comparing himself to Billy Zane's character in Titanic fleeing the sinking ship.
During an appearance at New York City's Blue Note Jazz Club, Rock said that he may have
contracted the illness while on a movie set and that his experience with it was difficult.
In an interview with Gayle King in January 2021, Rock said he was enthusiastic to receive
the vaccine.
In reference to vaccine hesitancy among the Black community, Rock compared taking the
shot to taking Tylenol:
"Do I know what's in Tylenol?
I don't know what's in Tylenol, Gayle.
I just know my headache's gone."
During Oscars Night 2022, Chris Rock became the target of "The Slap Heard 'Round the World."
The incident was shocking to a lot of viewers but perhaps not to those few who were aware
of long-standing tension between Rock and Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Rock's jokes at Pinkett Smith's expense date back to 1997, when Rock had a talk show on
HBO.
He made fun of Pinkett Smith's speech at the Million Women March, garnering boos from his
audience.
It seems as if Rock has a penchant for teasing Pinkett Smith about her activism.
He made another joke about her when he hosted the 2016 Oscars.
At the time, Pinkett Smith was boycotting the ceremony due to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy.
While on stage, Rock made fun of her boycott, implying that Pinkett Smith hadn't been invited
anyway.
What surprised some fans was that Rock and Pinkett Smith were co-stars when they voiced
characters in the popular and lucrative Madagascar franchise.
However, they haven't worked together since 2012.
Rock also has a history with her husband, Will.
Rock appeared on an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, playing a female character who
Will must take out on a date.
During an appearance on the The Late Show with David Letterman, Rock joked about having
to compete for roles with Will Smith, saying to the camera:
"Will Smith, don't you have enough?
Damn you, Will Smith!"
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