Music 'Awww Baby!' Ashanti and Nelly are pregnant and engaged The hip-hop/R&B hitmakers rekindled their romance last year after breaking up in 2013. By Lester Fabian Brathwaite Lester Fabian Brathwaite Lester Fabian Brathwaite is a staff writer at Entertainment Weekly, where he covers breaking news, all things Real Housewives, and a rich cornucopia of popular culture. Formerly a senior editor at Out magazine, his work has appeared on NewNowNext, Queerty, Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker. He was also the first author signed to Phoebe Robinson's Tiny Reparations imprint. He met Oprah once. EW's editorial guidelines Updated on April 17, 2024 08:32PM EDT Ashanti and Nelly are collaborating on their next project: a baby. The R&B princess is expecting her first child with the "Country Grammar" rapper and the pair are also engaged to be married, after rekindling their romance last year. Ashanti and Nelly. Paras Griffin/Getty 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. Though this will be Ashanti’s first child, this will be Nelly’s fifth. The 49-year-old St. Lunatic 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 go back years and years. They previously dated, on and off, for about 11 years before calling it quits in 2013. Then, last year they brought the old band back together. "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." Seems like they did it pretty damn well. Related content: Nelly and Ashanti remix an oldie but a goodie: their decades-old romance Rich in herre: Nelly sold rights to his song catalog so here are his 5 most 'valuable' songs Kelly Rowland addresses texting Nelly in Excel in 'Dilemma' music video: 'They made me look nuts'