Smokey Robinson claims he had a ‘beautiful’ year-long affair with Diana Ross during his marriage

Smokey Robinson has shared insights into his enduring friendship with Diana Ross, revealing that, at one point, their connection went beyond mere friendship.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, the 83-year-old music icon disclosed that he and Ross had an affair that lasted “about a year” while he was still married to his first wife, Claudette Rogers.

“I was married at the time. We were working together and it just happened. But it was beautiful.”

The legendary singers had been friends since the age of 10, growing closer after Ross and her family moved onto the same street as Robinson and his family. They also lived in the same neighborhood as Aretha Franklin.

“It’s beautiful to know we were kids playing together. And these people are some of the most famous people in the world now,” Robinson expressed. “We had such joy.”

Despite having a teenage crush on Aretha Franklin, Robinson’s relationship with childhood friend Diana Ross evolved into something more. Neither of them made the first move; as Robinson stated, “it just happened.”

“She was young and trying to get her career together. I was trying to help her. I brought her to Motown, in fact. I wasn’t going after her, and she wasn’t going after me.”

The affair eventually came to an end.

“After we’d been seeing each other for a while, Diana said to me she couldn’t do that because she knew Claudette, and she knew I still loved my wife. And I did. I loved my wife very much.”

Reflecting on the affair, Robinson shared that it helped him grasp a complex subject many find challenging: love.

“I learned that we are capable of loving more than one person at the same time. And it has been made taboo by us. By people. It’s not because one person isn’t worthy or they don’t live up to what you expect – it has to do with feelings. If we could control love, nobody would love anybody. Nobody would take that chance. Why would you put your heart out there for somebody to be able to hurt you like that and make you able to have those feelings?”

While Robinson readily admitted to his affair with Ross, he dismissed rumors suggesting that he and Ross were the biological parents of Michael Jackson.

“They say I’m the baby daddy?” he laughed. “Hehehehe! Hooohooho! They say Diana Ross and I had Michael? Oh my God! I never heard that one, man! That’s pretty good. That’s funny! That’s funny!”