Chris Rock sought out advice from professionals after Will Smith slapped him at the Oscars in March 2022 - according to Leslie Jones.
The 56-year-old SNL star opened up to PEOPLE magazine about the controversial incident - which occurred after the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star took offense to the joke Rock, 58, had made about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head.
After smacking Rock, the Bad Boys star - who went on to win Best Actor that same night for King Richard - walked back to his seat and exclaimed: "Keep my wife’s name out of your f**king mouth" twice.
More than a year after the incident, Jones revealed in her interview that the slap was so "humiliating" for the comedian that he attended therapy with his daughters, Lola Simone Rock, 21, and Zahra Savannah Rock, 19.
Watch the infamous moment below:As Rock's close friend, the comedian revealed that the incident took a toll on him that only a few are aware of, telling the publication: "That s**t was humiliating. It really affected him. People need to understand his daughters, his parents, saw that. He had to go to counseling with his daughters."
While Jones wasn't at the Dolby Theatre when the infamous moment happened, she shared that it made her "so infuriated" that she was ready to head over there. "You don't know that I was going to jump in my car and roll up there. I was so f**king mad on so many levels," she added.
The Ghostbusters actress also disclosed in her new memoir titled Leslie F***ing Jones that she met the Everybody Hates Chris narrator in the mid-90s and they formed a special bond.
"He's like my brother," she said, adding he threw her name in to land a spot on SNL in 2013, though she wasn't quite convinced. "I was like "Why, those aren't real comics.' He was like, 'Shut up. You sound like an idiot,'" Jones recalled.
Rock even wrote the foreword for Jones' new book, with the female entertainer adding: "He's just always there to give me the perfect advice when I need it."
The Coming 2 America star also revealed that she was "mad" that the Aladdin actor escalated the situation when all Rock did was tell a "f***ing joke".
"I know Will, too... I was like, you couldn't handle that s**t afterward. This is the Oscars. The whole world is watching," she remarked.
Jones added that when she spoke to the Selective Outrage comic after the assault, she asked him why he didn't run when he saw Smith walking up the stage.
"I was like, 'Chris, when he got up why didn't you run?' I would've been running around that stage like 'Will, calm down. Jada, call your man!'" she quipped.
When it came to the aftermath of that moment, the comedienne wishes it had played out differently for her close friend.
She explained that Smith "could have still fixed" everything when he returned to the stage after winning his Best Actor award and said: "I shouldn't have did that. Bring Chris out. I can not accept the Oscar right now because that was f**king wrong.'"
