Chris Rock remembers entering therapy in tears, not treating it as an accomplishment to advertise. “My personal life wasn’t what I wanted it to be,” he said, explaining that he meant his relationships with everybody.
The 61-year-old spoke with Zach Baron in an interview released November 3 for GQ‘s 2026 Men of the Year issue. Their conversation also appears in the magazine’s One More Question video series.
Rock said he still receives professional support. He sees a therapist and someone who helps him with nonverbal learning disorder, according to PEOPLE‘s account of the interview.
The conversation accompanied his latest film, Misty Green, starring Rosalind Eleazar as an actress trying to revive a stalled Hollywood career. Rock wrote and directed the drama, whose cast also includes Anna Kendrick and Daniel Kaluuya.
His Diagnosis Changed How He Interpreted Other People’s Reactions
Rock underwent cognitive testing after a friend suggested seeking an explanation for difficulties with social interaction. He discussed the resulting diagnosis in a September 2020 Hollywood Reporter interview, recounted by SELF. That report also described him working through childhood experiences in therapy.
In the new interview, he explained that other people’s hints can be hard for him to read, making direct communication more useful. He also reconsidered the assumption that his fame explained negative reactions to him, recognizing behavior he now regarded as insensitive.
In a separate Variety interview this fall, Rock linked receiving support to improved concentration and reading more. He said he had gone from reading three books a year to 23 and felt better equipped to take on filmmaking than he had earlier in his career.
He Told Gayle King He Needed to Listen and Take Chances
Rock had discussed an intensive therapy schedule with Gayle King for CBS Sunday Morning. The conversation was previewed in December 2020 and broadcast January 3, 2021. He told King that he had attended therapy before the pandemic but increased his sessions to approximately seven hours a week after it began.
In excerpts released by CBS, Rock said honesty required acknowledging the parts of himself he found hardest to discuss. He admitted that he had sometimes been selfish, failed to listen and taken advantage of situations. When King asked about the hardest truths, he was reluctant to go into details that could embarrass other people.
He also recognized how harshly he judged himself. “I need to listen, I need to take chances,” he said. One unfamiliar challenge he had taken on during the pandemic was learning to swim in his 50s.
Divorce and Touring Delayed His Return to Directing
Rock told Baron that his divorce, subsequent stand-up tours and the pandemic contributed to the 12-year gap between Top Five and his new film. He described rebuilding his finances and personal life. The conversation also revisited his admission that he had been unfaithful during his marriage. He said he had stopped watching pornography five or six years earlier.
In an October 8 letter published by A24, Rock described Misty Green as a drama that still contains humor. He wrote about the contrast between Hollywood’s wealth and poverty and questioned the promise that talent and hard work will guarantee success. The film opened in theaters on October 9.