- Method Man is a member of the Wu-Tang Clan hip hop collective
- He won a Grammy in 1996 for his collaboration with Mary J. Blige on ‘I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need to Get By’
- The star’s acting resume includes roles in ‘Garden State,’ ‘Venom,’ and ‘The Wire’
Method Man has been scheduled to perform in a special tribute at the 2023 Grammys. The Wu-Tang Clan member, 51, will take the stage alongside Ice-T, Queen Latifah, Nelly, Grandmaster Flash, and many more for the 50 Years of Hip Hop tribute. LL Cool J is expected to introduce the segment, which aims to showcase the genre’s rich history and continued influence throughout the world.
With all eyes on Method Man, fans want to know more about the multihyphenate star, including his love life. Defying all Hollywood odds, Method (aka Clifford Smith, Jr.) has been married for over 20 years to the same women, Tamika Smith! “I’ve been with her 29 years,” Method told Jada Pinkett Smith on Red Table Talk in 2021, a rare reveal for the notoriously private couple. “We got married in ’01, so we’re 20,” he added, before insisting, “It’s work! Respect is first and foremost.” Meet the woman who stole Method’s heart, below!
How did Method Man and Tamika meet?
While very little is known publicly about Tamika (there are no photos of her available at this time), the couple reportedly met while she was working as Method’s personal assistant back in the 1997, per Essence. The pair didn’t start their romance until two years later, with Tamika still keeping her position as Method’s employee up until 2002.
She owns a beauty business
Tamika’s LinkedIn profile previously stated that she was the owner of “a small business in the beauty industry.” Back in 2016, she was also enrolled at the College of Staten Island, per the bio.
Tamika is a cancer survivor
Tamika secretly battled breast cancer around 2006. After Wendy Williams revealed the diagnosis on her own talk show, much to the disgust of Method, he ended up commenting on the harrowing ordeal, telling Rolling Stone, “My wife is one of the strongest people on the planet.”
Her diagnosis sparked a feud with Wendy Williams
As mentioned above, Wendy told the world about Tamika’s cancer diagnosis, which was being kept private by Tamika and Method. The alleged betrayal caused an on-going rift between the TV host and the musician. “I just want to make Wendy Williams aware of exactly what it felt like to be sitting in that hospital room, watching them pump this poison into the one you love,” Method told Rolling Stone at the time.
Wendy later claimed she had an affair with the rapper, which caused Tamika to take to her private Instagram account at the time and drag the entertainer. “In the past, I ignored her lies, innuendos, and blatant attempts to provoke us,” she wrote on her IG Stories, per HITC. “But Wendy has proven again and again that she is incapable of any decency. Her obsession with our lives has reached a new low. And I’m tired of taking the high road.”
Tamika is a proud mother of 3
Over the course of their plus-20 years together, Tamika and Method welcomed three children, Sha, Rae, and Cheyenne Smith. Rae and Cheyenne are twins, according to Essence. With their birth, Method Man revealed he wanted to improve his image.
“When you get older and you’ve got kids and your kids are going to school and you know [their] teachers…and they see how active you are and concerned [you are] with your kids’ education or well-being, it’s hard to sit there and be taken seriously if people are always talking about ‘he’s always high’…which is totally not the case,” Method said on Red Table Talk. “I have to use more discretion because of my kids. This is not for me; everything I do is for them now, so I use a bit more discretion and I don’t put weed as a forefront anymore.”