Ashanti Expects First Child @43, Celebrates Reunion With Nelly

<h4>Ashanti Expects First Child &commat;43<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas&comma; an American singer&comma; songwriter and actress is currently enmeshed in the ocean of joy over the expectation of her first biological child at 43&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The hip hop Grammy-winning singer has disclosed her expecting her first child with longtime love&comma; Cornell Iral Haynes better known as Nelly&comma; who is officially her fiancé&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nelly&comma; 49&comma; an American rapper&comma; singer&comma; and actor grew up in St&period; Louis&comma; Missouri&comma; and embarked on his musical career in 1993 as a member of the Midwest hip hop group St&period; Lunatics&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Said Ashanti&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This new year of my life is such a blessing full of love&comma; hope&comma; and anticipation&comma;” she says&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Motherhood is something that I have looked forward to&comma; and sharing this with my family&comma; fiancé&comma; and loyal fans&comma; who have been so supportive of my career&comma; is an amazing experience&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; information has it that this will be Ashanti’s first child and Nelly’s fifth&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nelly has a daughter&comma; Chanelle&comma; a son&comma; Cornell Jr&period;&comma; and adopted Shawn and Sydney Thomas&comma; the two children of his sister&comma; Jackie Donahue&comma; after she died of leukemia in 2005&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The couple reunited in 2023&comma; with the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Country Grammar”<&sol;a> rapper confirming the news after the two were seen attending events together and performing in a flirtatious way and following Ashanti carrying a clutch bag with her and Nelly’s face on it last year’s Grammy Awards&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The romance reportedly began in 2003&comma; during the early stages of their music careers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ashanti says things are much lighter now that they’re older and doing love differently&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Yeah&comma; we cool again&comma;” he said during an interview last fall with Love and Hip Hop&colon; Atlanta stars Kirk and Rasheeda Frost&period; <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I think it surprised both of us&comma; though&period; It wasn’t anything that was planned&period; I think we’re both pretty much doing what we do&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;