Ashanti Confirms She Welcomed Her First Baby With Nelly: ‘This Is What Postpartum Looks Like’

Ashanti and Nelly are officially parents, with a rep confirming to People on Wednesday (Aug. 21) that the couple welcomed a baby boy.

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The rep also revealed the name of the little one — Kareem Kenkaide Haynes — and that his birthday was July 18. “The proud and happy parents are so in love with KK!” they added in a statement.

The confirmation came around the same time that the “Foolish” singer revealed that she’d given birth with a post on Instagram, showing off her postpartum body in a mirror selfie. “Funny how life’s plans aren’t…always on time.. lol,” she wrote in her caption. “I’ve been waiting to be a mom for a long time now but nothing could prepare me for EVERYTHING motherhood brings!”

“This is what postpartum looks like,” she continued. “I’m so proud of my body for giving me my baby, baby, baby, baby, baby.”

Ashanti and Nelly first announced they were expecting in April, simultaneously revealing that they’d gotten engaged after rekindling their romance in 2023. The artists first started dating in 2003 before ultimately breaking up in 2013, only to reconnect after another 10 years.

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“I think we both were pretty much doing what we do, but sometimes being separate you understand one another more,” Nelly explained of their relationship in an interview with Love and Hip Hop ‘s Rasheeda and Kirk Frost last year. “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.”

Kareem is Ashanti’s first child and Nelly’s fifth. He previously welcomed daughter Chanelle in 1994 and son Cornell in 1999 with ex-girlfriend Channetta Valentine. After Nelly’s sister, Jackie Donahue, died of leukemia in March 2005, the musician adopted her kids, Shawn and Sydney Thomas.

See Ashanti’s post confirming the birth of her baby boy below.

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