US singer Ashanti confirms birth of baby with rapper Nelly
By Ellie Iorizzo, PA Los Angeles Correspondent
Grammy-winning singer Ashanti has announced she gave birth four weeks ago to her first child with US rapper Nelly.
US star Ashanti, who rekindled her romance with Nelly last year after first being linked in 2003, shared a carousel of photographs of her wearing a blue robe on her Instagram.
“Four weeks postpartum. You have no idea what this body can do,” she says in a video.
She captioned the post: “Funny how life’s plans aren’t…always on time.. lol.
“I’ve been waiting to be a mum for a long time now but nothing could prepare me for EVERYTHING motherhood brings!
“This is what postpartum looks like I’m loving these super cozy @fridamom shorts!
“I’m so proud of my body for giving me my baby, baby, baby, baby, baby.”
According to People magazine, the couple named the baby boy Kareem Kenkaide Hayes after his birth on July 18.
Ashanti, 43, is engaged to Just A Dream singer Nelly, real name Cornell Haynes Jr.
It comes after Nelly was arrested in a casino in Missouri where he was accused of possessing illegal drugs.
At the time, his lawyer Scott Rosenblum said Nelly “was targeted by an overzealous, out of line officer”, adding that he is “100% confident this case will go nowhere”.
The baby is Ashanti’s first child and Dilemma singer Nelly’s fifth.
The 49-year-old has a daughter and a son with former partner Channetta Valentine, and he adopted the two children of his late sister, Jackie Donahue, after she died of leukaemia in 2005.
The family starred in the reality TV show Nellyville in 2014 alongside Nelly’s then-girlfriend Shantel Jackson.
