Ashanti Confirms She's Pregnant With Her and Nelly's First Child
Ashanti has just confirmed she's pregnant with her and Nelly's first child!
Ashanti shared the happy news Wednesday in an Instagram video in which the singer's getting ready for a performance. After one of her handlers asks how much time she needs until she's ready, Ashanti's mom, Tina Douglas, checks in a second time, and that's when Ashanti responds, "I'm gonna need about nine months," prompting Tina to express shock at the pregnancy news.
The baby will be Ashanti's first and Nelly's third child. The "Hot in Herre" rapper is the father of adult children, Chanelle, 29, and Cornell Haynes III, 24, from a previous relationship. Nelly also adopted his sister, Jackie Donahue's, kids -- Shawn and Sydney Thomas -- after she died from leukemia in 2005.
Ashanti, 43, and Nelly, 49, first hinted at their baby news in December in a video that made its way around the internet from Nelly's 11th Black and White Ball. During what appears to be an auction portion of the event, the pair stands onstage while the MC says "seal the deal." Nelly then places his hand on Ashanti's stomach, as she makes a heart over it, before they both laugh and rush off the stage.
Nelly and Ashanti rekindled their relationship earlier this year. Prior, the pair dated on and off for a decade before calling it quits officially in 2013.
Last September while at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, the singer walked the pink carpet alone but made sure to bring a part of her relationship with her via a purse featuring a photo of her and Nelly at the VMAs exactly two decades earlier.
Ashanti and Nelly during his Halloween birthday party on Oct. 31, 2023 in Fairburn, Georgia.
"I just thought that his was cool because this picture was taken 20 years ago at the VMAs in 2003," Ashanti told ET at the time. "We were in a great place," she added of her memory from the old photo.
The following month, the pair went Instagram official, when the "Country Grammar" rapper dedicated a sweet post to his lady on her birthday.
"One time for the birthday girl…. Such a beautiful, an incredible person inside and out and one of the hardest working [woman] I know," Nelly wrote in his caption. "@ashanti Enjoy your day Ma you look awesome!!!! Happy Birthday Love ya!!!!," he wrote next to a post with a series of pictures featuring him and the "Foolish" singer.
Ashanti with her purse featuring Nelly on the pink carpet for the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards at the Prudential Center on Sept. 12, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey.
Ashanti took to the comments to thank her man, writing, "Awwwwww Thanku Big head!!!!!!!!🥰😘 love ya!!!!"
In September, Nelly confirmed their rekindled romance and shared that their time apart was key to connecting when the time was right.
"I think we both were pretty much doing what we do, but sometimes being separate you understand one another more," he said during an interview with Love and Hip Hop's Rasheeda and Kirk Frost. "You be like, 'Yo, let me see exactly what they see.' You know, because we all can be defensive sometimes in our own relationships. We know we wrong but we going to stand on it. But we all a victim to that."
It's been an eventful year for the "Body on Me" singers, who have shared PDA in Las Vegas and had a sentimental moment as Ashanti walked the red carpet holding a picture of her and Nelly from 20 years ago.
For more of Nelly and Ashanti's love, click below.
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