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Nelly and Ashanti recently reconnected in September, but now the couple has even more to celebrate.
According to Us Weekly, Ashanti is pregnant, and at 43, it will be her first child. Nelly, however, already has two adult kids with ex Channetta Valentine, 29-year-old daughter Chanelle, and namesake son Cornell Haynes III, who is 24.
Rumors that she was with child started over the weekend when the two went to Nelly’s Black and White Ball in St. Louis. While on stage, Ashanti grabbed her growing belly, and Nelly quickly followed before dropping their hands. Both hysterically laughed as they moved from center stage.
The rapper and singer have been dating on and off since meeting at the Grammys in 2003, where they exchanged numbers, but would eventually call it quits in 2013.
Now, some 10 years later, the former couple was spotted together several times, and at the 2023 VMAs, Ashanti complimented her outfit with a purse that had Nelly’s face on it.
It wasn’t until days later, when Nelly appeared on Love and Hip Hop’s Rasheeda and Kirk Frost on Philo TV show Boss Moves with Rasheeda, that he spilled the beans about he and Ashanti rekindling their relationship and how it was a shock to both of them.
“Yeah, we cool again,” a grinning Nelly told them. “I think it surprised both of us. It wasn’t anything that was planned. I think we were both pretty much doing what we do. Sometimes, being separated, you understand one another more. We all can be defensive sometimes in our own relationships. We could be wrong, but we’ll stand on it. We’re all a victim to that.”
Now that they’re older and have a better handle on work-life balance and different outlooks on life, Nelly says it’s easier this time around.
“Yeah, because it’s no pressure. Before, I felt like both of us were doing things career-wise. And when you’ve got so many people in the middle of it, it can be tough,” he continued.
While social media is happy for the couple to spin the block, the jokes are mostly being made at the expense of CEO and co-founder of Murder Inc. Records Irv Gotti, who Ashanti says lied about the nature of their friendship.
See the roasting below.
