by Chinwe Okafor

He had often poked at the idea of marriage during his stand-ups. Little did we know that it was indeed leading up to this. Chris Rock officially files for divorce after 19 years of marriage to wife Malaak Compton-Rock.

He had joked once saying, “Marriage is so tough, man. Nelson Mandela got divorced. He got out of jail after 27 years of torture, spent six months with his wife and said, ‘I can’t take this [expletive] no more.'”

The parents to two girls- 12-year-old Lola Simone and 10 year-old Zahra Savannah- confirmed their spit three days after Christmas, making it the most shocking split of 2014 yet. According to a statement released by the comedian’s representative on Sunday, “Chris Rock has filed for divorce from his wife, Malaak. This is a personal matter and Chris requests privacy as he and Malaak work through this process and focus on their family,

The 45 year old Compton-Rock took it in her stride saying, “After much contemplation and 19 years of marriage, Chris and I have decided to go our separate ways. Being fortunate enough to lead a life of service by working with those most vulnerable makes me well aware of life’s blessings, even when faced with difficulties.

While recognizing that this is a significant change, my children remain at the center of my life and their well-being is my top priority,” she added. “It is in this spirit that I sincerely ask that their privacy and the privacy of our family be respected during this transition in our lives.”

The 49 year old didn’t portray a happy home in his hilarious — and, in a family newspaper, unprintable — riffs on marriage when he described it as “sexless and miserable” in his 2004 HBO special “Never Scared.”

Apparently, the couple has been “having marriage issues for years” and that they have “been living separate lives for some time.” but tried for the children’s sake to work it out and keep it in place. A decade ago (2004), he had said, “Marriage is beautiful.” That was seven years after he said “I do,”  and then he added “but if you think you’re going to hold onto your individual self, you’re an idiot.”

But he had enjoyed being married once but to him whatever happened was just life. In an interview with Oprah, he did say,”Yes. It’s hard working in the benevolent dictatorship of show business and then coming home to a democracy.”

“I wouldn’t say rocky—it was just life,” he added. “I had a lot going on back then, and I couldn’t trust many people around me. I met so many people after I got rich and famous, and I learned that you can’t ultimately trust people unless they were your friends when you were broke.”