DWTS Alum, Wife Secretly Welcomed First Child Together

Heavy/ABC & Nattalia Nuñez/Unsplash Nelly and Ashanti welcomed their first child.

Season 29 “Dancing With the Stars” alum Nelly and his wife, Ashanti, quietly welcomed their first child together last month. A rep for the couple confirmed the news with People magazine.

“Ashanti and Nelly welcomed their baby boy, Kareem Kenkaide Haynes, on July 18, 2024. The proud and happy parents are so in love with KK,” the rep said.

Nelly and Ashanti first started dating in 2003. They split about 10 years later, per People magazine, but reunited in 2021. Fans had been speculating that Ashanti was pregnant for a several weeks, and she finally confirmed the news on April 17.

“Baby baby baby baby,” Ashanti, 43, captioned an Instagram post.

Kareem is the first child for Ashanti. Nelly, 49, has two grown children from a previous relationship.

Ashanti Shared a Photo of Her Postpartum Body

After giving birth to her son, Ashanti took to Instagram to share a photo of her post-baby body.

“Funny how life’s plans aren’t…always on time.. lol. 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 I’m loving these super cozy @fridamom shorts! I’m so proud of my body for giving me my baby, baby, baby, baby, baby,” she captioned the post.

Fans reacted to the post in the comments section, many congratulating Ashanti and Nelly on the birth if their son.

“Congratulations @ashanti & @nelly on the new bundle of joy! We can’t wait to meet him/her,” one person wrote.

“I am SO HAPPY FOR YOU. You deserve all the happiness in the world. You are going to be a wonderful mother @ashanti,” another comment read.

“I’m so happy that you got to experience motherhood. Congratulations to you both,” a third Instagram user said.

Nelly & Ashanti Had a Secret Wedding

A couple of years after Nelly and Ashanti reconciled their romance, the rapper got down on one knee. In a June 2024 interview with ET, Ashanti said that Nelly popped the question while the two were at home. She called the proposal a “beautiful, intimate moment.”

The two ended up getting married — secretly — in December 2023, according to TMZ. Public records obtained by the outlet listed a wedding date of December 27, 2023, to be exact. The two haven’t been very forthcoming with information of their rekindled romance, but they have both shared a bit about how things are different this time around.

“Never in a million years did I think we would be here. Ten years ago — maybe yes — but after our breakup, you know, I didn’t even think we’d ever have a conversation again,” she told ET.

“I guess when you go through a breakup, for me personally, I kind of just shut that person out… It’s kinda like, OK, that chapter is closed and you just move on, you know, and there’s nothing there,” she added.

Meanwhile, in an interview with ET Nelly admitted that he and Ashanti didn’t plan to get back together — it just happened.

“I think we both were pretty much doing what we do, but sometimes being separate you understand one another more. 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,” he explained.

READ NEXT: DWTS Champ Issues Statement After Making Headlines