Ashanti and Nelly welcome first baby together

Ashanti and Nelly are thrilled to announce the arrival of their first child together.

After getting together in 2003 and dating for over a decade before breaking up in 2014, the music stars rekindled their romance in 2023.

In April of this year, Ashanti and Nelly announced their engagement and shared the news that they were expecting their first child.

On Wednesday, the couple revealed that they welcomed a son named Kareem Kenkaide Hayes on July 18th.

Taking to Instagram in the wake of the news, Ashanti proudly posed in specialist postpartum recovery underwear and showed her “four weeks postpartum body”.

She wrote alongside a collection of images and videos, “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.”

The arrival of Kareem marks the fifth child for 49-year-old Nelly.

He shares a son named Cornell Hayes III and a daughter named Chanelle from a past relationship – and he adopted the two children of his late stepsister Jaqueline Donahue, after she tragically died following a leukaemia battle in 2005.