Pregnant Ashanti and Nelly Duet at E11EVEN's 10th anniversary party
Ashanti and Nelly.
Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for E11EVENPregnant Asanti and boyfriend Nelly know how to make sweet music together.
Ashanti, 43, and Nelly, 49, teamed up for a joint musical performance at E11EVEN Miami's 10th anniversary party on Friday, February 2. The couple stayed close throughout the set, wearing matching sunglasses.
Nelly wore a white shirt with purple trousers and a heavy diamond necklace, while Ashanti opted for a pink Balenciaga jersey dress that concealed her baby bump and matched her ankle boots and sunglasses. The couple, who also posed together on the red carpet on Friday, then joined the rapper Fat Joe for a second performance.
Ahead of Friday's show, Ashanti teased her excitement to take the stage.
Ashanti and Nelly found each other again in 2023 after a series of ups and downs. The pair sparked romance speculation in early 2003 after meeting at a Grammys event. Although they were coy about their status for years, Ashanti confirmed in March 2015 that they were a couple until 2013. […]
“Miami!!!!! Tonight is the day!!!! Me and @nelly @11miami 10 year anniversary party!!!! See you there!!! 😜😜,” she wrote via Instagram.
The audience responded: “Time for an unforgettable evening 🌟.”
Ashanti and Nelly.
Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for E11EVENAshanti and Nelly initially dated between 2003 and 2013 after meeting at a Grammy Awards press conference. Ten years later, they sparked reunion speculation when they were spotted holding hands in April 2023.
“Yes, we're cool again,” Nelly said during a September 2023 appearance on the “Boss Moves with Rasheeda” podcast. “I think it surprised both of us. It wasn't anything that I don't think was planned.”
Three months later, We weekly broke the news that Ashanti is pregnant with their first baby. (Nelly also shares daughter Chanelle, 29, and son Cornell Haynes III, 24, with ex Channetta Valentine.)
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Neither Ashanti nor Nelly have discussed her pregnancy further, but Fat Joe, 53, is happy for the couple.
“So recently Ashanti FaceTimed me with Nelly,” Fat Joe recalled during an Instagram Live session in January. “I immediately tell them that I need 10 percent of this child, because if I didn't Verzuz when I brought Nelly outside, I opposed Yes rulethen they saw each other and that energy reconnected.”
Nelly and Ashanti.
Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for E11EVENFat Joe invited Ashanti to perform their 2002 duet, “What's Luv?” during the 2021 concert. Nelly had played his own set before hugging his then-ex backstage.
“You know what, the crazy thing is he didn't say anything,” Ashanti said during a November 2021 interview on The Angie Martinez Show. “First of all, I didn't know he was going to be there. I said to Joe, 'Joe, why don't you tell me he'd be there?' He said, 'Sis, I know, it's terrible.' He said, “I couldn't take the chance that you wouldn't come if you knew he was going to be there.”