Ashanti and Nelly’s rekindled romance has been giving fans all the nostalgic feels, but it turns out their love story came with a price tag, literally.
The R&B queen recently spilled the tea on a hilarious moment that happened when she and Nelly reconnected after a decade apart. According to Ashanti, before they made things official again, Nelly put a financial cap on how much he’d spend on her during a date. And the budget? A cool $10,000.
Yes, you read that right. Apparently, Nelly had a “pre-official” dating budget in place before he was ready to go all in again. Ashanti recalled the moment during a conversation, laughing as she explained how it all went down.
“The date was in Vegas, and ermm…” she giggled, clearly still amused by the memory. “It was so crazy. It was around Valentine’s Day. And we took a little trip to Dolce.”
The host, sensing the tea was about to get hotter, asked, “And he took you shopping?”
Ashanti confirmed, but that’s when she revealed the kicker. “Yeah, but you know what’s crazy? He went like, ‘Yeah, you’re not my girlfriend yet, so I’m only spending $10K. When you become my girl again, then you know.’ It was hilarious.”
Fans immediately had mixed reactions to the story. Some found Nelly’s approach amusing and even strategic—setting a clear “dating tier list” before making it official. Others thought it was wild that $10K was considered a “budget” date.
Ashanti and Nelly’s love story has been a rollercoaster, from their early 2000s romance to their unexpected reunion in 2023.
Three months following their first wedding anniversary, the rapper, who is 50, discussed on The Bootleg Kev Podcast his reasons for wanting to marry the R&B singer, aged 44, right after they learned she was expecting.
Nelly mentioned that when they received the news, they hadn’t yet discussed marriage. However, after observing the progression of their relationship, he realized it was something he wanted to pursue.
As for the $10K date rule? Well, it seems like the budget increased significantly once she was officially “his girl” again!
