DHQ Carlene Smith Says Beenie Man Proposed To Her Twice
Pop culture icon Dancehall Queen Carlene Smith was almost Beenie Man’s first wife.
In an interview with The Fix, the ‘Butterfly’ dance creator said the music icon popped the question twice, first in private and again at her birthday party at Portmore’s Cactus nightclub.
“I kinda don’t like surprises…” Smith started. “At my birthday party, he did it again – proposed – and I was like, not amused… I didn’t answer right there cause…how much ring the one finger a go hold?”
With media present, the entertainer was careful not to embarrass the man she described as her first love. But she also didn’t immediately respond.
“I was not even focusing that I never said (yes) cause true you say it already…”
Plus, there was a lot happening. The crowd was clamoring for a response, and she was drenched from a champagne shower.
“After dem douse us in champagne, so I really can’t see, and mi a go change my clothes, and I just turned back and said, ‘Yes’.”
Their story is one of the greatest romances in dancehall history, starting in 1994 after being connected by Smith’s late sister Pinky. Interestingly, Smith was engaged at the time. Admittedly bored, she fell for the charm of Mr. Girls Dem Sugar who had a longtime crush on her.
By then, Smith was already internationally known, while Beenie was about to step into national acclaim with the Dave Kelly-produced hit Wickedest Slam. Their fame disparity caused much chatter, including the typical remark that the well-off, uptown girl could do better than the ghetto youth.
“It was a pressure but mostly on him,” she said. “I could handle it, he couldn’t. He had people around that wanted him to be more free… One of the pressures is remember I was a sex symbol. He had nothing really and all these rich men are at me… I don’t think it was his part, but it was his surroundings (telling him) ‘she nah marry you’.”
It didn’t help that he couldn’t evade her popularity. Smith recalled that he’d go to studios and men would openly talk about her. When they went out, men vied for her attention.
“He wanted no naked clothes, no sexy clothes…so it was kinda pressuring trying to be what my man wants me to be in some aspects, and it was kinda okay in one minute, but as he wasn’t there, it was back to being myself… It caused pressure and remember, he’s a public person now too, so I try to play me down. Him didn’t mind me being sexy, but daring? Nah. So we would go out and the girls dem come and I give them way…but mek you, as a man, try tek one picture with me.”
She continued, “We were so young. I never really understood certain things and I hate being confronted, so I would take away myself.”
Smith devoted much of her time to pushing his ambitions, almost acting as a road manager. She recalled organising his travels so he’d be best prepared for shows, and even upgrading his hotel stays using her credit card. Coincidentally, Beenie’s subsequent relationships with Krystal Tomlinson and current fiancée Camille McIntosh have seen them involved in his business affairs.
“At the time, he wanted me to do certain business stuff cause he recognised that I was all about him and I want the best everything for him,” Smith said. “I saw the talent that was in this man. Beenie Man live, sleep, dream entertainment. I will categorically tell you, hands up, the best entertainer out of Kingston, Jamaica, and Jamaica, the Caribbean. If I would categorise him, I would put him in the level of Michael Jackson, and this is back then.”
Smith has no regrets about shifting focus to his career. Besides, they were always together.
“I never had women problem with him… Of course, I was happy. Let me tell you guys, the sex was good…it was enjoyable. We would have sex anywhere: inna dancehall, inna the movie theatre – we never cared cause we were together.”
He also valued her thoughts on his music.
“I was a good cheerleader, so he said if he came in or we’re at the studio and him do a song and I don’t move, him seh, ‘Listen, dash weh that’, from I don’t move. I would encourage him and trust me, I danced some way that I don’t do on stage for him; pon me head and dem something deh.”
Despite their best friend dynamic and spontaneous sex life, dancehall’s first power couple called it quits in 2001.
“I didn’t think we should have been married, not because I didn’t love him enough, because his career did not suit for me having my man a sing bout ‘gyal inna bungle’ as a husband…” Smith shared. “I take marriage to a sacred level where me nah go do certain things, and you cya do certain things…”
They share one child, Crystal Davis.
Beenie went on to marry artist D’Angel in 2006, the divorce for which was finalized in 2019.
Earlier this year, he proposed to his current girlfriend, Camille McIntosh.