Ashanti has announced she is pregnant with her and Nelly‘s first child and the pair are also engaged to be married after rekindling their romance last year.
The couple broke the news of their engagement and pregnancy to Essence.
“This new year of my life is such a blessing full of love, hope, and anticipation,” Ashanti told the outlet. “Motherhood is something that I have looked forward to, and sharing this with my family, fiancé, and loyal fans, who have been so supportive of my career, is an amazing experience.”
The “Foolish” singer also shared a video on her socials promoting her and Nelly’s company, Proov, appropriately, an at-home pregnancy test. In the video, Ashanti is seemingly preparing to go onstage when someone asks her how much time she’s going to need.
“I’m a need about nine months,” the 43-year-old singer-songwriter says after finally emerging.
This will be Ashanti’s first child and Nelly’s fifth. The 49-year-old rapper has a daughter, Chanelle, a son, Cornell Jr., and also adopted his sister Jackie Donahue’s kids, Shawn and Sydney, after she died of leukemia in 2005.
Nelly and Ashanti previously dated, on and off, for about 11 years before calling it quits in 2013. Then, last year they got back together again.
“Yeah, we cool again,” Nelly, said last September, confirming his relationship with Ashanti. “I think it surprised both of us, though. It wasn’t anything that …[was] planned. I think we’re both pretty much doing what we do.”
