Rapper Trina, 45, is now a married woman, according to court documents. The star, born Katrina Taylor, quietly tied the knot with her partner, Benjamin Leon Kearse Jr., aka Swurv, on May 22 in Miramar, Fla., and filed for their marriage application in April. In a recent interview with Carlos King for his podcast, Reality With the King, she opened up about what makes her relationship with Kearse, who briefly appeared in a few scenes of this latest season of Love and Hip Hop Miami, different and gave the first hint that she was a married woman.
“In my relationship now with my husband, we share a lot,” she said, leading King to ask her if they were actually married. “That’s my husband,” she replied before saying an official celebration hadn’t happened yet, but King would be invited.
“To me, honestly, it’s just a breath of fresh air being secure, confident in knowing and believing and trusting in how I feel,” she said of loving Kearse.
“I feel like now it’s more than just a relationship,” she continued. “You’re seeing it, but I control my privacy, how I want it to be, as opposed to we’re doing it because that’s what people need to see. I don’t care about that. If you see it, oh well. I’m not hiding. I’m happy. I’m confident. He’s extremely confident. And it’s more than just a relationship. We’ve built a friendship. Every day is like being with your best friend.”
She added, “That brought us really close. As opposed to always being the baddest chick and always being on and all this stuff, I get to be at home, with no makeup, and just chill. It’s a vibe, we can watch a movie all day. All the stuff I like, he likes, and I didn’t really have that [before].”
The rapper was formerly engaged to Raymond “Ray Almighty” Taylor in 2021, who also appeared with her on Love and Hip Hop Miami. However, the couple never made it to the altar, and they ended up parting ways. Trina spoke briefly about the breakup during an episode of Caresha Please with Yung Miami in 2023, while also opening up about the back-to-back loss she experienced around that time.
“It’s so much that happened in this year and I just had to take a break from everything. I was engaged, in a whole relationship, and when stuff happened, I just kind of lost focus. I didn’t feel like I could give my whole self to somebody,” she shared.
She added, “Everything that happened to me just tore my life apart. I was just totally not in a happy space at all.”
During the interview, Trina expressed her desire to eventually start a family and shared that she has had three miscarriages in the past. However, the TV personality also expressed that she was reluctant to have kids due to her mother, Vernessa Taylor, passing away from cancer in 2019 at the age of 62.
“When my mom got sick, I just went into this phase of I don’t even want to have a kid, and my mom is not here. How do I raise a kid without my mom?”
The star also lost her 17-year-old niece, Toni Chester, who was shot and killed in Miami in 2022.
We’re glad this queen is getting some sunshine after all that rain. Congratulations!