Chris Rock shared the struggle with having people “walk over him” before Will Smith slapped

Comedian Chris Rock opened up about his past experience with bullying in a podcast ahead of the live broadcast at the Oscars on Sunday

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Oscars: Will Smith slams Chris Rock after joking about Jada

Chris Rock spoke about his past experiences of bullying on a podcast earlier this year and had people “walk over him”.

The 57-year-old comedian was stunned on Sunday when he was slapped live by Will Smith at the Oscars after he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair.

He appeared on the Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade podcast in January and spoke about how being bullied as a child had affected him as an adult.

“Half the bullying happened because I was just a little guy,” he explained. “Then I was taken to school by bus and the bullying was because it was me [a] little guy and i was black. I was bullied twice.”

Speaking about a moment when he decided to fight back against a bully, he revealed he had put a brick in his book bag.

“I was swinging that shit and hitting that guy in the face with that brick and stepping on him, Joe Pesci style, to the point where we thought he might die,” he said.

But the incident made him acutely aware of his own anger issues, and he often tried his best to avoid conflict – but, again, he said it meant he often let people “run him down.”

He said: “Long story short, from that day on, as my psychiatrist put it to me, you were afraid to be angry. The guy you saw bent over backwards to be nice because I was so scared of my anger.”

The comedian added: “Your friends brush you off, your friends brush you off, your female relationships — everyone just fucks you up.

However, Chris said he is now able to express his anger in a healthy way “without losing [his] Head”.

“I’m not afraid to let people know how I feel about certain things,” he said. “Now I can say, ‘Hey, I don’t like what you said to me’ without losing my head, without hitting someone in the head with a friggin’ brick.”

Will issued a submissive apology to Chris on Tuesday after stepping onto the stage at the Oscars and punching him live on air.

His Oscar win is now “under scrutiny” after his behavior, which he himself acknowledged as “unacceptable and inexcusable”.

The stand-up comedian, 57, had made a reference to alopecia sufferer Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head by joking that he couldn’t wait for GI Jane 2.

Although Will initially appeared to be laughing, his demeanor seemed to change abruptly when he stormed onto the stage and punched Chris in the face on live television.

Chris tried to laugh away the awkward moment – which fans initially thought was part of the show – but the atmosphere in the room turned when Will angrily shouted, “Keep my wife’s name out of your friggin’ mouth. “