The news of Cardi B filing for divorce from Offset took fans by surprise because things really seemed to be going well. It possibly came as a surprise to Offset himself; as the news came just days shy of what would have been their third wedding anniversary, September 20.
Of course, everyone knew Offset had wandering eyes (among other wandering body parts); but he was apparently repentant after he publicly apologized and begged her to take him back.
After a very public reconciliation, the parents to 2-year-old daughter Kulture steadily cruised along for nearly two, unbothered years; as 28-year-old Offset charmed his wife with heart-shaped diamonds and the Birkin bags.
Meanwhile, Cardi, with her husband’s name newly tattooed on her thigh; chatted to Vogue about why they remained such a formidable pairing.
“Everybody has issues,” Cardi, 27, explained in the interview in January about weathering the storm of infidelity. “I believe in forgiveness. I prayed on it. Me and my husband, we prayed on it. We had priests come to us. And we just came to an understanding like, bro, it’s really us against the world.”
And with that, the hip-hop power couple, who lay claim to 11 Grammys nominations with one win, seven BET Awards, and countless Hot 100 tracks; truly seemed ready to continue their steady ascent.
That is until the joyride came to an abrupt halt, Cardi’s request for legal and physical custody of her only daughter; as Offset is also father to sons Jordan, 10, and Kody, 5, and daughter Kalea, 5. She also declared that their union is “irretrievably broken” with “no prospects for a reconciliation” shocking more than just her fans.
“The divorce is very shocking to everyone around them,” an insider told E! News. “Cardi and Offset have been living together, parenting Kulture and seemed to be doing fine from an outsider’s perspective.”
Simply put, “Cardi does not trust Offset,” the insider explained.
“It’s been hard for her since the last cheating scandal and there have been rumours of him being unfaithful again.”
Publicly, she brushed off the rumours. When a fresh round of accusations cropped up in December 2019 following a “hack” of Offset’s Instagram and Twitter, she shared her response on Instagram.
“Everybody knows he’s done some dumb sh*t,” Cardi said in a December 3 video. “But come on now, [he’s] not dumb, he’s not crazy. We’ve been so good, we had a sweet weekend. Our life has been good, he’s not going to play himself like that. That’s why I’m not going to entertain that, that’s why I’m not getting rowdy. Simple as that.”
But when the accusations kept coming, the situation stopped feeling so cut and dried. Offset mounted his case; “He has been pleading with her that he hasn’t,” the insider said of the cheating allegations. “But many girls have come forward with claims.”
And at a certain point, the refrain just became too tiring for Cardi.
After all, she’d already forgiven him once. When a late 2017 iCloud hack seemed to catch Offset with another woman, Cardi tweeted, then deleted, “I’m going to make a decision in my own time with my heart and mind.”.
“I don’t need to be rushed or be told what to do. It’s my life! I belong to me, not to the world,” Cardi said; adding that while “it’s not right” to cheat, “What you want me to do? Go f*ck me another n*gga? Start all over again and get cheated on again? This sh*t happens to everyone.”
And then once more, Kulture factored heavily in her decision to move past Offset’s late 2018 indiscretion.
“When I was 13, my parents separated, right?” she explained during a February 2019 appearance. She opened up about her Trinidadian-born cashier mother and cab driver father who hails from the Dominican Republic. “So I always feel like it’s important to have, like, a two-parent household.”
Sure, they had their problems. But what couple didn’t? “My thing is, everybody on social media acts like relationships is perfect,” Cardi reasoned to Vogue.
“And that’s crazy to me. I’m around so many women, and there’s always a woman talking about how she loves her man, but her man is not financially stable, or she has a problem with his mom, or the sex is not as good anymore. Everybody has issues.”
And she truly felt theirs weren’t too large to overcome. “People that be in marriages for years, when they say till death do us part; they not talking about little arguments like if you leave the fridge open,” she continued to Vogue.
“That’s including everything.” So while she knew a large swath of her fans disagreed with her choice; “A lot of people were so mad at me. A lot of women felt disappointed in me”. She lamented of the backlash as the decision was hers to make.
As she put it, “It’s real-life sh*t.”
But at this point, Cardi has realized that putting up with the constant betrayal is not worth it. “She’s really tried for the last two years and has tried to forgive him,” the insider told E! News. “She had enough and decided to file.”
Just like before, Kulture factored heavily into her decision, the insider sharing that Cardi “wants to be a good example for her daughter and women out there that you can be independent.”
Cardi is prioritizing herself, her music, and her daughter. As she noted to Vogue, “All the time I’m thinking about my kid. I’m shaking my ass, but at the same time, I’m doing business. I’m on the phone with my business manager saying, make sure that a percentage of my check goes to my kid’s trust.”
And she’s going to continue “busting [her] ass” to ensure that Kulture will live the good life.
“So you could have a good car when you’re 18, so you can go to school and have an apartment that I could pay for,” she explained of the thought process behind her hustle. “If my daughter wants to go to college, that’s okay, but I just want her to be an owner of whatever the f–k she wants to own. Just be an owner. Be the boss.”
Good thing Kulture has an experienced guide in her mother.
