Smokey Robinson Recalls Year-Long Affair With Diana Ross During His Marriage to Claudette Rogers

You'll be cruisin' on over to hear Smokey Robinson's story about him and Diana Ross. 

The "One Heartbeat" singer recently said he had an affair with The Supremes star while he was married to his first wife Claudette Rogers. 

During an interview with The Guardian published April 27, Robinson was asked if he ever had a "thing" with Ross.

"Yes, we did," he replied, before saying how long it lasted. "About a year. I was married at the time. We were working together and it just happened. But it was beautiful. She's a beautiful lady, and I love her right till today. She's one of my closest people. She was young and trying to get her career together. I was trying to help her. I brought her to Motown, in fact. I wasn't going after her and she wasn't going after me. It just happened." 

However, Robinson said Ross put an end to the romance.

"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," he continued. "And I did. I loved my wife very much."

E! News has reached out to Ross' rep for comment but has yet to hear back.

During the interview, Robinson reflected on what he's learned about love over the years.

"You asked me what happened when we get older, and we get wisdom in life," he shared. "I learned that we are capable of loving more than one person at the same time. And it has been made taboo by us. 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?"

The "Cruisin'" artist and Rogers, both members of The Miracles, were married for 27 years from 1959 to 1986. Robinson is now married to interior designer Frances Glandney, who he wed in 2002. As for Ross, she was married to music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein from 1971 to 1977. In 1986, the "I'm Coming Out" artist wed Norwegian businessman Arne Naess, Jr. in Switzerland. They divorced in 2000, and he died in a climbing accident in 2004.

Robinson, 83, and Ross, 79, first met when they were kids. According to The Guardian, she moved onto his street in Detroit, Michigan, when he was 10. And they weren't the only music icons in the neighborhood as Aretha Franklin—who died in 2018—also lived nearby.

However, Robinson noted in the interview that he and the Queen of Soul were never a couple.

"No, just friends. I do admit when I was about 15 I had a crush on her," he said, later adding. "Hehehe! Yeah, she was fine!" 

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