Source: ROBERTO SCHMIDT / Getty
If you’re a pop culture aficionado, you may remember that Janet Jackson was married – twice –before anyone knew about it. She was applauded for keeping her private life private at the time.
Well, it looks like Ashanti took a page from Jackson’s celebrity playbook. TMZ is reporting that Ashanti, 43, and her boo, Nelly, 49, were married back in December. They say the marriage happened on Dec. 27 and that the documents that prove it were filed in St. Louis, which as we all know is Nelly’s hometown.
The couple, who ran it back after first dating in the early aughts, are now expecting a child. Ashanti just recently talked to Deirdre Behar at Entertainment Tonight about her baby and upcoming wedding but left out the part that she’s already legally married.
“I think it’s going to be a combination of fashion glam, Carribean vibes,” she told Behar about her wedding plans. “I have to have a beach, an ocean and palm trees.”
Sounds like Ashanti was describing her wedding as opposed to her marriage which, as we now know, has already happened. There are other celebrities who’ve taken care of the legal side of marriage before the ceremony – Simone Biles and her husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens, did it in 2023.
Ashanti also told Behar that had anyone told her she’d be back with the “Hot In Herre” rapper after they broke up in 2023, she wouldn’t have believed them.
“Are you crazy?” is what she said would have been her response then. She added, “The growth has been superb on both ends. We are both at a place whereas before sometimes we would argue and walk out, slam the door and not talk for a couple of days. And now it’s like, ‘you good’ and give me a kiss goodbye and it’s over. It’s not like holding on and bickering. We find out what the resolution is, we apologize.”
Ashanti says that doing Verzuz helped her reconnect with Nelly via the efforts of Fat Joe, Ja Rule and her deejay who cheered on the relationship and celebrated when the couple reconciled.
Watch the full video below:
