Smokey Robinson Reveals He Had an Affair With Diana Ross While Being Married to Claudette Rogers | "A Beautiful Lady"

Smokey Robinson, 83, is speaking out about his many indiscretions, including one with his childhood pal Diana Ross.

The iconic singer confessed in an interview with The Guardian on Thursday that he had an affair with Ross for "about a year" while married to his first wife, Claudette Rogers. In an interview with PEOPLE, he said that he was married at the time, but it just happened as he and Ross were working together. However, he says he doesn't regret it as it was beautiful. He added, "She's a beautiful lady, and I love her right til today. She's one of my closest people. She was young and trying to get her career together."

He also mentioned how he brought her to Motown to help her get her career started. "I wasn't going after her and she wasn't going after me. It just happened," he said.

He then went on to describe how their relationship ended. "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," the Tracks of My Tears singer said. "And I did. I loved my wife very much."

His friendship with Ross, 79, taught him that love is far more complicated than he could have imagined. He suggested that people gain wisdom as they get older and that he learned that humans are capable of loving more than one person at the same time, however, this notion is seen as taboo 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," he shared. 

From 1959 through 1986, Robinson was married to Rogers. Later, in 2002, he married Frances Glandney. Meanwhile, from 1971 to 1977, Ross was married to Robert Ellis Silberstein, and from 1985 to 2000, she was married to Arne Naess, Jr.

In February, the icon told PEOPLE why music is still his greatest interest. "It's what I love," he said. "I can't find anything that replaces this for me."

The former The Miracles vocalist wrote and produced nine songs on the album, including the lead single If We Don't Have Each Other. "I retired one time. I retired for about three years, and I was climbing the walls," he said. "It's not about me making time. It's about me raring to go and do it. Everybody gets a gift from God, and mine was to be able to write music."

References:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/apr/27/at-83-i-still-feel-sexual-smokey-robinson-on-love-joy-drugs-motown-and-his-affair-with-diana-ross

https://people.com/music/smokey-robinson-reveals-affair-with-diana-ross/

https://people.com/music/smokey-robinson-explains-why-hell-never-retire-from-music/

Cover Image Source: (L) Getty Images | Alberto E. Rodriguez ; (R) Getty Images | Jason Merritt