Chris Rock doesn’t have a confirmed girlfriend right now. The 61-year-old comedian has kept his romantic life mostly private since his divorce from Malaak Compton-Rock was finalized in 2016, but his dating history since then has included a few notable names, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Carmen Ejogo, and Lake Bell among them. Most recently, he was spotted in NYC in September 2025 with Brazilian actress Karmel Bortoleti, though neither has confirmed a relationship.
What’s worth paying attention to isn’t just who Chris Rock has dated. It’s the pattern: a man who built an entire comedy special around admitting he destroyed his marriage, and who has spent the years since navigating what it means to be single, famous, and honest about it in front of millions of people.
QUICK FACTS
- Full name: Christopher Julius Rock III
- Born: February 7, 1965, Andrews, South Carolina
- Ex-wife: Malaak Compton-Rock (married 1996, divorced 2016)
- Children: Two daughters — Lola Simone (b. 2002) and Zahra Savannah (b. 2004)
- Current relationship status: No confirmed girlfriend or partner
- Notable post-divorce relationships: Megalyn Echikunwoke (2016–2020), Lake Bell (2022)
Who Is Chris Rock Dating Right Now?
As of early 2026, Chris Rock has no publicly confirmed relationship. He last addressed his dating status during his March 2023 Netflix special, Selective Outrage, where he said plainly: “I’m single. I’ve been single for a long time. I was married for a long time. I was dating somebody for a while. Now I’m single.”
Since then, he’s been photographed with a handful of women, including model Amber Rose in December 2023, though Rose quickly shut down any romantic speculation. In September 2025, paparazzi captured him walking through New York with Karmel Bortoleti, a Brazilian actress and entrepreneur, per the Daily Mail. No confirmation followed from either side.
The takeaway: Rock is keeping his private life private, which—given how publicly his marriage ended—makes sense.
Who Was Chris Rock’s Wife?
Before the dating history, there was the marriage. Chris Rock married Malaak Compton-Rock on November 23, 1996, after meeting her at the Essence Awards two years earlier. She was working as a publicist at the time—not a Hollywood fixture, but a professional with her own career. She later founded the nonprofit styleWorks and the Angelrock Project Foundation, focused on underserved communities in the U.S. and South Africa, and she holds a bachelor’s degree from Howard University.
They had two daughters together: Lola Simone, born in 2002, and Zahra Savannah, born in 2004. In a 1997 interview with Ebony, Rock said of his new wife: “She’s changed me. She’s really calmed me down and centered my life.”
That marriage lasted nearly two decades. In the world Rock operates in—stand-up, film sets, months on the road—that’s not nothing.
Why Did Chris Rock Get Divorced?
Rock filed for divorce in December 2014. It was finalized in August 2016. Compton-Rock released a statement at the time saying: “After much contemplation and 19 years of marriage, Chris and I have decided to go our separate ways.”
Rock could have left it there. He didn’t.
In a 2017 cover story with Rolling Stone, he was candid about his failures: “My faults are magnified. Your significant other, if they really love you, has a high opinion of you. And you let them down.” Then in his 2018 Netflix special Tamborine, he went further, admitting to cheating on Compton-Rock with three women while on tour. “It’s my fault because I’m a f*ing ahole,” he told the audience. “I didn’t listen. I wasn’t kind.”
That kind of public accountability from a man at his level of fame is rare. It didn’t undo the damage to his marriage. But it did make clear that he understood exactly what happened and why.
Who Is Megalyn Echikunwoke, Chris Rock’s Ex-Girlfriend?
Megalyn Echikunwoke was Rock’s first serious relationship after his divorce. The two were first first seen together in February 2016 at Clive Davis’s pre-Grammy Gala, and they made several public appearances together over the next four years, including the 2016 Emmy Awards and the 2019 Met Gala.
Engagement rumors circled after Echikunwoke was spotted wearing a ring on her left hand, but she shut that down in an interview with People: “Definitely not. It’s a pearl. It’s not even a diamond.”
She also told a reporter that she wasn’t “a huge believer in marriage,” and that the assumption that every woman in a relationship wants a ring was “completely bulls–t.”
They split in early 2020, per Page Six, with sources indicating Rock wasn’t ready to settle down again so soon after a nearly two-decade marriage. That tracks. A man who spent 18 years in one relationship and then publicly unpacked how badly he handled it isn’t necessarily going to rush into the next commitment.
Did Chris Rock Date Carmen Ejogo?
Briefly, and never confirmed. In late 2020, Rock and British actress Carmen Ejogo were photographed having dinner together in New York’s West Village and later at lunch in Malibu, according to Page Six. Neither ever publicly addressed the relationship, and sightings stopped after a few months.
Ejogo, who had previously been married to actor Jeffrey Wright, kept it just as quiet from her end. Whether this was a real relationship or two people grabbing dinner a few times, neither saw a reason to make it anyone else’s business.
Are Chris Rock and Lake Bell Still Together?
No. Rock and actress Lake Bell were linked in summer 2022 after being spotted on multiple dates in Los Angeles, including a dinner at Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica. A source told People at the time: “They create a storm of laughter when together and both are real people. It’s a good match.”
The pair were later photographed on a European vacation in Croatia, holding hands—which, by celebrity dating standards, is practically a public announcement.
But by March 2023, it was over. During Selective Outrage, Rock confirmed he was single without naming Bell directly: “I was dating somebody for a while. Now I’m single.”
That relationship lasted roughly eight months, which puts it somewhere between casual and serious, but clearly short of what either person was looking for long-term.
What Chris Rock’s Post-Divorce Life Reveals
The pattern isn’t hard to read. A four-year relationship (Echikunwoke) that ended because he wasn’t ready to commit. A brief connection (Ejogo) that never went public. An eight-month relationship (Bell) that ran its course. A string of paparazzi sightings (Rose, Bortoleti) that haven’t amounted to confirmed partnerships.
What makes Rock’s situation different from the standard “eligible bachelor” celebrity narrative is that he’s been remarkably honest about why he’s in this position. Most men in Hollywood who go through a public divorce either disappear or move straight into the next relationship. Rock did neither. He made a comedy special about it. He told audiences—in detail—how he ruined his marriage. He’s joked about the awkwardness of dating in your late fifties as a famous person: “I’m trying to date women my age, which is 10 to 15 years younger than me.”
There’s something worth noting in the gap between how Rock talks about relationships in his stand-up and how he actually conducts his personal life. On stage, he’s raw and self-deprecating. Off stage, he’s guarded. That combination—public vulnerability, private caution—is the whole story of his post-divorce years.
Whether he’s dating someone right now that we don’t know about, or whether he’s doing exactly what he said in Selective Outrage, being single and figuring things out, the one thing that’s clear is that Chris Rock isn’t performing his way through it. He’s living it, at his own speed, on his own terms. That’s more than most people manage, let alone in front of cameras.
