Nelly Says He Married Ashanti So She Wouldn’t Be a ‘Baby Mama’

Nelly opened up about why he and Ashanti got married after dating on and off for 20 years.

“If we’re back like this, this must be what it’s supposed to be,” Nelly, 50, said on the Tuesday, March 26, episode of “The Bootleg Kev Podcast.”

The couple officially tied the knot in December 2023, after finding out that they were expecting their first child together. Their son, Kareem, was born in July 2024.

Nelly has two children — 31-year-old daughter Chanelle and 26-year-old son Cornell — from a prior relationship with Channetta Valentine. He also adopted her sister Jaqueline Donahue’s two children — now-27-year-old Sydney and 26-year-old Shawn— after her death from cancer in 2005.

During his “Bootleg Kev Podcast” interview, Nelly admitted he wasn’t really considering marriage to Ashanti, 44, until he found she was pregnant in late 2023.

“We hadn’t talked about it yet,” he admitted. “We hadn’t talked about any of that yet. I was like, ‘Yo, let’s just knock this out because we’re going to be doing so much and everything’s going to be moving so fast.’ I didn’t want her to be a ‘baby mama.’”

Nelly Says He Married Ashanti So She Would not Be Baby Mama — Ashanti and Nelly. Lisa OConnor/AFF-USA.com/MEGA

Nelly and Ashanti originally dated from 2003 to 2013 after meeting at the Grammy Awards. The pair got back together a decade after their split and were married only a few months later in December 2023.

“I base any relationship on, ‘Does this person bring more good to your life than bad?’ Any relationship,” he told “The “Bootleg Kev Podcast.”

The “Hot in Herre” rapper remembered the couple realizing soon after reconnecting that “a lot of the s— [they] were b—-ing about” the first time around was unimportant.

“We were way more happier than we thought,” he joked.

Ashanti surprised her husband at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 17 when she presented him with the Landmark Award in honor of the 25th anniversary of his groundbreaking 2000 album Country Grammar.

“[Nelly] created a movement, shaped the culture and made history doing it,” Ashanti said of her partner. “I’m so proud to honor Country Grammar and the talented guy who made it!”

Reflecting on that moment, Nelly confirmed to “The Bootleg Kev Podcast” that he truly had “no idea” Ashanti would be presenting his career-achievement award.

“I thought she was going to the seats because we had just left the dressing room. She was like, ‘Go kill ‘em, babe. Good luck,’” he recalled.

“Then, I’m backstage and my inner-ear [monitor] is in, and I’m like, ‘F—, I know that voice,” he went on. “Then, I looked to the screen and I’m like, ‘Wow!’ … It was dope, man, it was dope. That’s my baby, man. She did her thing.”

Nelly took the stage at the iHeart Music Awards in Las Vegas to perform a medley of his greatest hits, including “Hot in Herre,” “Air Force Ones, “Ride Wit Me” and “Country Grammar.” He was given the Landmark Award specifically in recognition of his impact on both music and culture over the past 25 years.

Ashanti’s surprise tribute to Nelly came seven months after the birth of their son Kareem in July 2024. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight in August 2024, Ashanti said Nelly was responsible for picking their son’s name.

“His dad named him with a lot of pride,” she confirmed. “We were going back and forth for a long time on his name and he was very adamant. He was like, ‘This is what I want, I love this.’”

Later that month, Ashanti wrote via Instagram that she was “so proud” of her postpartum body four weeks into motherhood.

“Funny how life’s plans aren’t … always on time,” she joked in reference to her 2001 hit, “Always on Time,” with Ja Rule. “I’ve been waiting to be a mom for a long time now but nothing could prepare me for EVERYTHING motherhood brings.”