Smokey Robinson Opens Up About An Illicit Affair He Had With Singer Diana Ross

Smokey Robinson has revealed that he once had a fling with Diana Ross.

Robinson shared in a recent interview that he dated the iconic musician for a year while he was still married to his first wife, Claudette Rogers.

He also stated that the fling just happened and that neither of them chased after the other. He recently released a new studio album, "GASMS," after ten decades of not releasing new music.

Keep on reading to learn more.

Speaking to The Guardian on Thursday, Robinson shared that he once had a fling with Ross, which lasted about a year.

He had met her while she was still trying "to get her career" together, and although he was still married to his first wife, Ross's beauty seemingly got him hooked on her.

"I was married at the time. [Ross and I] were working together, and it just happened. But it was beautiful," the 83-year-old music icon said, per People magazine. "She's a beautiful lady, and I love her today. She's one of my closest people. She was young and trying to get her career together."

Robinson added that all he wanted to do in the first place was help Ross build and that it was not a case of either chasing each other.

He further remarked, "I was trying to help her. I brought her to Motown. I wasn't going after her, and she wasn't going after me. It just happened."

However, like almost all illicit affairs are bound to hit the rocks, Robinson and Ross's fling ended after the latter grew a conscience.

"After seeing each other for a while, Diana told me she couldn't do that because she knew Claudette, and she knew I still loved my wife," Robinson said. "And I did. I loved my wife very much."

Reflecting on the relationship, Robinson noted that he learned humans are "capable of loving more than one person at the same time" and that "it's not because one person isn't worthy or they don't live up to what you expect."

He then explained it was possible to feel this way because no one can control love and feelings.

He shared, "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 hurt you like that and make you able to have those feelings?"

Robinson has been out of the music game for a while but has returned with a new studio album, "GASMS," on April 28. The record is his first solo studio album in nearly a decade, and it has nine songs on the album, including the lead single, "If We Don't Have Each Other."

In February, he shared that making music is still his biggest passion, saying that it is what he loves and "can't find anything that replaces" it for me, per People.

Robinson received the 2023 MusiCares Persons of the Year that same month alongside Motown Records founder Berry Gordy.

"This is an extraordinary thing for me," Robinson said about the honor, which is recognized the first time two persons have received the prize. "They've given it to me and Berry, my best friend, and he most certainly deserves it."

Apart from receiving the fantastic reward, Robinson enjoyed seeing several singers, such as Brandi Carlile and Chloe X Halle, who came up on stage and performed his songs made famous by The Supremes, Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and others.

The singer revealed, per USA Today, that he wants his music to remain relevant even after he has left this world, saying it's a "dream come true" for him when singers sing his songs.

"As a songwriter, I want to write music that people will be singing forever," he said. "I want to be Beethoven, man."

"Most of the people who have recorded my music are songwriters themselves. There are a billion songs in the world. So when somebody picks one of mine, that's a dream come true for me."