Source: Walter McBride / Getty
As Smokey Robinson releases his new album Gasms, he’s opening up about love, sex after 60, and his affair with Diana Ross.
Just because Robinson is in his 80s doesn’t mean he’s running out of energy, especially sexual energy. In addition to getting down and dirty on Gasms, the legendary singer recalled the great loves of his life besides his two wives. According to Guardian, Robinson revealed that he had an affair with Diana Ross while married.
Robinson’s first marriage to high school to high school sweetheart Claudette Rogers lasted for 27 years. However, he had plenty of Gasms to go around with other women. He confirmed nothing more than a crush on lifelong friend Aretha Franklin, but Diana Ross was a different story. The affair “lasted for about a year” while Robinson was “still married at the time.”
“[Ross and I] 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,” he said about his childhood friend turned label-mate.
“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,” Robinson explained.
However, the closeness that made the affair seem inevitable forced them to end things.
“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,” he continued.
Their affair may have been brief, but Robinson said Ross was always more than a Mahogany mistress. The love was real for both her and Rogers. Robinson shared lessons he learned about the heart as one of the original certified lover boys.
“You asked me what happened when we get older, and we get wisdom in life. 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,” he said.
“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?” Robinson added.
The soulful singers are still so close that he couldn’t wait to share a hilarious rumor that he and Ross are secretly Michael Jackson’s birth parents.
“They say I’m the baby daddy? Hehehehe! Hooohooho! They say Diana Ross and I had Michael?” he asked with shocked laughter. “Oh my God! I never heard that one, man! That’s pretty good. That’s funny! That’s funny!”
“I’m gonna call her and ask her” about their rumored love-child he said, still laughing. “That’s funny!”
Robinson’s refreshing honesty and reflections continue on his album Gasms. The title that set Twitter ablaze with hilarious jokes is intentionally provocative. The title track touches on gasms for the ears, eyes, and otherwise.
“When people think of gasms, they think of orgasms first and foremost … I tell everybody: ‘Whatever your gasm is, that’s exactly what I’m talking about,’” he said, laughing.
The sensual senior wants to highlight plenty of life and love-making left after 60. In fact, the “Tracks Of My Tears” singer says he only feels half his age.
“At 83, I still feel sexual,” Robinson said.
“When I hear of grandfathers and grandmothers who are 60 years old being talked about as if you’re counting them out and putting them out to pasture, I think it’s ridiculous. This is a new era of life. I feel 50,” the forever young icon added.
The seasoned singer dropped Gasms on April 28, and he’s taking his hip-thrusting hits on the road with a new tour.
