Chris Rock and his wife of 16 years divorced not long ago, and in his stand-up special,
he cites porn as a big reason why.

October 15, 2021

“One of the things I’ve done in the last year, not just going to therapy, I’ve gotten off of social media. I got off all social media, I don’t watch pornography anymore, and my brain is like—I’m focused, man.”

This quote is from Chris Rock during a podcast interview in September 2020 (FTND note: the content in the interview discusses political and religious issues on which FTND has no stance as a non-religious and non-legislative nonprofit).

In the last couple of years, comedian Chris Rock has joined with other celebrities in speaking out on the life-changing harmful effects of pornography.

He isn’t just talking about quitting his porn habit in podcasts though, he’s taken his experiences to the main stage. In his Netflix special, Rock opened up in his first tell-all stand-up routine in almost a decade.

Rock divorced his wife of 16 years in 2016, and in the special called “Tamborine,” he cites porn as a big reason why.

Among a range of topics he opens up about, Rock talks about his self-described addiction to porn in the routine, as well as cheating on his wife several times while he was on tour, being 15 minutes late to everything because of porn, being unable to look people in the eye, and failing to notice normal social cues.

With counseling, he was able to overcome his porn struggle, but it came at a serious price—the end of a marriage that had lasted nearly two decades.

Here’s an excerpt from the special, edited for graphic language:

“When you watch too much porn, you know what happens?… You get desensitized. When you start watching porn, any porn will do. Then, later on, you’re all f—ed up and you need a perfect porn cocktail to get [aroused]. I was so f—ed up … I’m a lot better now.”

Porn’s harms are no joke

Now, we know that Chris Rock is a comedian—his business is to tell jokes, to make his audience laugh about uncomfortable things. But that shouldn’t take away the impact of what he says.

While we don’t know the exact details of his struggle or of his personal life, Rock was bold enough to share his experiences, and though he did not say that porn was the sole reason his marriage ended, he made it clear that it was a contributing factor. And his situation would be in good company, seeing as research consistently shows that porn consumers are twice as likely to later report experiencing a divorce or breakup—even after controlling for marital happiness, sexual satisfaction, and other relevant factors.123

https://fightthenewdrug.org/chris-rock-speaks-out-on-porns-harms/