Chris Rock shared his experiences of being bullied as a child, talking to Dana Carvey and David Spade on their podcast Fly on the Wall just two months before the now-infamous altercation between himself and Will Smith on Sunday night.
Will stormed the stage at the Oscars after Chris joked about Jada Pinkett Smith being in G.I. Jane 2, apparently making the comment in relation to Jada’s bald head.
Jada suffers from a medical condition called alopecia, in which the body attacks the hair follicles, and patchy, bald spots are formed. Jada was open about her struggles with the disease last year and said she shaved her head in defiance of the disorder that had her feeling distraught over the years.
Will, who ended up taking home the Best Actor award for his role in King Richard, didn’t take the joke lightly and ended up giving Chris a shocking backhanded smack across the face following, leaving Chris, and the rest of the audience, looking shocked.
Now, reports of the interview Chris shared with fellow comedians David and Dana have surfaced, highlighting why Chris may have handled the situation with the poise and composure he managed to muster following the attack.
Chris Rock said that he was mercilessly bullied as a kid
In the podcast, Chris opened up about his difficult childhood, telling the hosts that bullying was a huge part of his life as a kid.
“I was bullied ridiculously,” Chris shared with David and Dana. “Half of the bullying was because I was a little guy, and then I got bused to school, so I was a little guy, and I was Black. It’s like I’m getting double bullied,” he said.
Chris described being the oldest of seven children but also being the smallest of all his brothers. He shared that his stature and the fact he was the oldest sibling made it hard for him to ask for help from his brothers. It also left him feeling like he needed to find a way to defend himself.
Chris admitted to using a brick to take aim at one of his bullies after years of torment
Chris went on to describe how he decided to take on his attackers one day, packing a heavy brick inside his backpack so he could swing at the tormentors.
“This is, like, a legendary story in my neighborhood,” Chris revealed. “I f***ing swung that s**t and smacked this guy on the face with this brick and then stomped him Joe Pesci style.”
He added that he sought therapy following the incident. Chris has led his life since then in as hands-off a way as possible, preferring to take people’s anger with his head down instead of reverting back to his own temper of his youth and physically fighting back.
“My shrink…the good shrink I got, like the top, top guy…he broke it down and was like ‘we gotta get you over that incident because you’re a nice guy and this guy (the bully) brougth out something in you and you’re so scared of that thing coming out of you again that you let the whole world walk all over you,” Chris said.
Chris appears to be continuing to remember his past lessons, having let the slap by Will Smith slide and taking it in stride Sunday night and stating soon after that he had no intentions of filing a lawsuit against him for the attack.