People who follow Nelly and Ashanti are surely aware of what a roller coaster their relationship has been. With the arrival of Nelly and Ashanti: We Belong Together, it appeared the two artists were in it for the long haul.
But now that they have a child together, they are not on the same page when it comes to parenting.
When they first talked about having kids, it was clear that Ashanti was interested in having children, but until they were old enough to walk, talk, and basically fend for themselves, Nelly was ... not.
Nelly reflected on what he told Ashanti:
"Listen, I told her before we had this baby. I said, 'Now listen, I'm here. But chasing toddlers at 50... As many as you want, but as many nannies as we can afford.'"
"It's all you. I ain't even gon' lie. You know, I ain't got nothing for him."
"Until he can say, 'I'm hungry,' until he can say, 'I need to use the bathroom,' it's gonna be a lot on your lap... As soon as he gets to walking and talking, he with the crew."
Though Ashanti originally said, "I know," to Nelly's boundaries, she still didn't understand how he wasn't more involved.
"I'm trying to understand how is it that you sleep through when he starts crying?"
"It's absolutely ridiculous that you'll still be dead asleep and he'll be mad loud."
"That means it's your turn to change him."
Nelly continued to hold the boundary against helping with their infant son.
"Baby, I'll give you the world... I just ain't changing no diapers."
But in the end, Nelly believed that Ashanti knew that he was there for her.
"She knows I'm here, and she knows she has support."
You can watch clips from the show here:
People on Instagram were shocked by the footage.
@theshaderoom/Instagram
@theshaderoom/Instagram
@theshaderoom/Instagram
@theshaderoom/Instagram
@theshaderoom/Instagram
When the news spread to Twitter (X), people were especially critical.
It's hard to imagine a parent flipping a mental switch and not being involved with their baby at all, while expecting a relationship will just "be there" when they're old enough to walk and talk.
Nelly may be jealous that Ashanti gets more excited about phone calls from their nanny and infant son than she does about his calls, but because of the childcare setup he's insisted on, that child will probably always be more excited to hear from his mother than he ever will be to hear from his dad.