Chris Rock is still finding humor in heartbreak. The 60-year-old comedian turned his own divorce into a punchline once again while presenting at the 2025 Wall Street Journal Innovator Awards, on October 29 at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art.
Ex Files
The annual event celebrated creative and cultural trailblazers across multiple industries — including one of the night’s most talked-about honorees, Billie Eilish.
Taking the stage to present an award, Rock riffed on Eilish’s philanthropy, referencing a detail shared moments earlier by host Stephen Colbert. “Billie Eilish is giving away money from her tour to charity,” he said, acknowledging the 23-year-old’s plan to donate proceeds from her Hit Me Hard and Soft Tour to organizations addressing food equity, climate justice, and other causes.
“That’s beautiful,” Rock added with a grin, before delivering the kind of punchline only he could: “The percentage of my tour is gonna go to my ex-wife, of course.”
It was a classic Rock moment — sharp, self-deprecating, and perfectly timed. The comedian, whose career has long balanced cultural critique with personal reflection, drew laughter from the crowd at MoMA as he once again mined his own life for material.
Rock’s ex-wife, Malaak Compton-Rock, 56, was married to the “Grown Ups” star for nearly two decades. The couple wed in 1996, separated in 2014, and finalized their divorce two years later. They share two daughters, Lola and Zahra.
The divorce and its financial fallout has been a recurring theme in Rock’s stand-up and interviews. At the Innovator Awards, he joked, “It’s like I always say, I lost so much money in my divorce, when my friends are getting divorced, I recommend my ex-wife’s attorney.”
It wasn’t the first time Rock has delivered that line. Back in 2021, he told a similar story on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” recalling that he’d passed the same tongue-in-cheek advice to fellow comedian John Mulaney. “I was like, ‘You should get this guy, he’ll get you your money,’” Rock said then, laughing. “‘This guy is good, ’cause I walked out with nothing.’”
After warming up the audience with his trademark wit, Rock turned his attention to honoring another pair of innovators — George Lucas and Mellody Hobson. The husband-and-wife duo were recognized by The Wall Street Journal in the design category for their vision behind the forthcoming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles.
“If you met them, you would think he was the money guy and she was the creative, like, made the movies,” Rock quipped, flipping expectations with ease. Lucas, he noted, “has spent his life turning imagination into reality from the first sketches of a galaxy far, far away to ‘Indiana Jones.’” As for Hobson, Rock described her as “an incredible strategist, a CEO, a brilliant money manager.”
The comedian concluded his introduction on a sincere note, calling the couple’s museum “a love letter to imagination and to collaboration, the kind that happens when two people from very different worlds share one bold belief that art belongs to everyone.”
For Rock, the night was a mix of humor, admiration, and a touch of introspection — all trademarks of his enduring comedic style. Even while celebrating others’ achievements, he reminded the audience that no one, not even Chris Rock, is immune from life’s punchlines.
