Singer Smokey Robinson reveals that he had an affair with Diana Ross during his first marriage
By Wide Baba 
Thursday, 21 August 2025, 4:18 am
American singer and songwriter, Smokey Robinson has spoken candidly about his historic affair with Diana Ross while insisting he’s still a ‘sexual being’ at the age of 83.
In an interview with The Guardian, the legendary singer revealed he had an affair with Ross for “about a year” while married to his first wife, Claudette Rogers.
He exchanged vows with his Miracles bandmate in 1959 but they divorced in 1986 following the birth of his child with another woman, Trey Robinson, 39.
Reflecting on his year-long fling with Diana, he said they hooked up when she was an up-and-coming artist .
He said: ‘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.
‘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. And I did. I loved my wife very much.’
When asked whether he is still a ‘sexual being’ at 83, Smokey claimed he still feels 50 and has no intention of turning into an old man.
He said: ‘I still feel the same way, only I’m wiser with it. When you’re young and you have those exploratory feelings about sex, you haven’t lived long enough to know the value of it. So yes, I have a different attitude to it, but I still feel sexual. And I hope I’ll always feel like that.
OK, chronologically, I’m 83, but it’s not really my age.’
The Motown legend feared he would never sing again after his terrifying battle with Covid-19 in 2021.
Smokey revealed he spent 11 days in acute care in an Los Angeles hospital after contracting the virus and was left so weak from the virus that he nearly died.
Robinson was married to Rogers from 1959 to 1986. He married his second wife, Frances Glandney, in 2002. Meanwhile, Ross was married to Robert Ellis Silberstein from 1971 to 1977, and Arne Naess Jr. from 1985 to 2000.
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