Divorce rumors finally true for Chris Rock, wife

Chris Rock, who has said in his stand-up act that every adult is either “married and bored, or single and lonely,” is about to move from one group to the other.

The comedian and star of “Top Five” has filed for divorce from his wife of 19 years, Malaak Compton-Rock, his publicist said Monday. “This is a personal matter,” her statement said, “and Chris requests privacy as he and Malaak work through this process and focus on their family.”

Rock and his wife, a charity leader, have two daughters: Lola Simone, 12, and Zahra Savannah, 10.

Divorce rumors have dogged the couple for years. In 2007, the New York Daily News reported Rock was consulting a divorce attorney, and the couple responded with a statement saying they remain “very happy and committed to our marriage and the beautiful family that we have built.”

Later that year, Rock insisted in a Sun-Times interview that “my marriage is fine” and said that 10 years of wedlock was accomplishment enough. “Even if I got divorced tomorrow, that’d be successful in today’s climate of marriage,” he said. “And by show business standards, that’s like two marriages.”

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But even then, he acknowledge some problems. “Anything you’re in for a long time, you’re gonna have ups and downs,” he said. “You dream of being a baseball player, but some days, players don’t feel like playing.”

It was a more optimistic view of marriage than what he espoused in his 2004 stand-up special “Never Scared,” when Rock advised husbands, “Fellas, when you wake up in the morning you should look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘F— you. F— your hopes, f— your dreams, f— your plans, f— everything you thought this life was going to bring to you. Now let’s go out there and try to make this bitch happy.’ “