Ashanti and Nelly are having a baby! The couple who have been together on-and-off since 2003 are expecting their first child together, US Weekly confirmed on December 4. This will be Ashanti’s first child, while Nelly already has two kids — daughter Chanelle, 29, and son Cornell Haynes III, 24 — from his relationship with ex Channetta Valentine.
Ashanti, 43, and Nelly, 49, first started dating back in 2003. The couple were together for a little over a decade before they split up in 2015. After their split, there were rumors that Ashanti was linked to Flo Rida (which she has denied) and James Harden (although neither of them ever confirmed if they were together). Nelly had been briefly linked to Shantel James after the breakup.
Nearly 10 years after their split, the couple first sparked rumors that they’d reconciled when they were seen at a boxing match in April 2023. An insider claimed that they’d rekindled their romance to Entertainment Tonight in May. “Nelly and Ashanti are back together and both of them are happy,” the source shared, with a second insider adding, “Nelly and Ashanti are really enjoying their time together.”
Before they officially got back together, Ashanti and Nelly both hinted that a reconciliation was possible after putting the drama from their breakup behind them. “What I will say is we’re in a better place,” Ashanti said on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in December 2022. “Before it was like [*punching*]. [Now], we have some conversations. So it was cool.”
Two months later, Nelly spoke to ET about his relationship with Ashanti in Feb. 2023 at the Grammys. “Time does wonders for a lot of different things,” he shared. “And time is one of those things that allows you time to reflect on what’s what, and you get a chance to see things in a different light and see your faults. So I think we both did that and it’s cool that we just friends.”