The elders are opening up.
Not to be outdone by the oversharing youth of today, legacy acts are beginning to discuss parts of their careers they kept quiet for decades. For Smokey Robinson, this means divulging information about an affair he had with Motown superstar Diana Ross.
Talking with People Magazine, Robinson describes Diana as a childhood friend. While working together, the duo realized their chemistry was a lot more than friendly and engaged in a year-long affair while he was married to his first wife, Claudette Rogers. “I was married at the time. [Ross and I] were working together, and it just happened. But it was beautiful,” Robinson, 83, told People.
Smokey says that he always found Diana beautiful and that they are still close friends to this day. He was trying to help her get her career off the ground and took her up to Motown to try and secure her a record deal. He claims that neither of them was looking for anything and that it “just happened.”
Diana Ross eventually called off the affair after having conflicting feelings about Robinson being married and knowing his wife. Smokey agreed and said he was still very much in love with Claudette at the time. Robinson said the ordeal taught him that you are capable of loving more than one person, even though it is considered taboo.
“If we could control love, nobody would love anybody. Nobody would take that chance,” he ultimately concluded. Robinson says that love is way more complicated than people think.
