After 19 years of marriage, Chris Rock has filed for divorce.
But unlike his trenchant standup routines, where he often poked fun at marriage, the comedian is being tight-lipped about the reason.
“This is a personal matter and Chris requests privacy as he and Malaak work through this process and focus on their family,” his representative said in a statement Sunday.
Malaak is Malaak Compton-Rock, the mother of Rock’s two girls, 12-year-old Lola Simone and 10 year-old Zahra Savannah.
“After much contemplation and 19 years of marriage, Chris and I have decided to go our separate ways,” Compton-Rock said in a statement, People reported.
“My children remain at the center of my life, and their well-being is my top priority. It is in this spirit that I sincerely ask that their privacy and the privacy of our family be respected during this transition in our lives.”
In his comedy acts, Rock has been brutally incisive about marriage — as he is about all other issues.
But Rock’s divorce might not come as a surprise to his fans.
“Marriage is so tough, man,” he once said.
“Nelson Mandela got divorced. He got out of jail after 27 years of torture, spent six months with his wife and said, ‘I can’t take this [expletive] no more.'”