Smokey Robinson Recalls Affair With Diana Ross Amid His First Marriage

The “Cruisin'” artist and Rogers, both members of The Miracles, were married for 27 years from 1959 to 1986. Robinson is now married to interior designer Frances Glandney, who he wed in 2002. As for Ross, she was married to music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein from 1971 to 1977. In 1986, the “I’m Coming Out” artist wed Norwegian businessman Arne Naess, Jr. in Switzerland. They divorced in 2000, and he died in a climbing accident in 2004.

Robinson, 83, and Ross, 79, first met when they were kids. According to The Guardian, she moved onto his street in Detroit, Michigan, when he was 10. And they weren’t the only music icons in the neighborhood as Aretha Franklin—who died in 2018—also lived nearby.

However, Robinson noted in the interview that he and the Queen of Soul were never a couple.

“No, just friends. I do admit when I was about 15 I had a crush on her,” he said, later adding. “Hehehe! Yeah, she was fine!”