Fans were thrilled with the recent news that Nelly and Ashanti are having a baby. But while this will be Ashanti’s first time experiencing parenthood, Nelly is a seasoned veteran.
In 2005, he adopted his sister’s two kids after she tragically passed away. He also had two children of his own with his former partner Channetta Valentine.
Not much is known about Nelly’s first baby mama, who has always preferred to keep out of the spotlight. According to her Instagram bio, she is or was a Travel Nurse. Channetta was born in 1976, making her 48 years old.
According to The Sun, she and Nelly dated for a long time. They were reportedly a couple between September 1990 and June 1999.
Nelly’s First Child Pursued Music
Their first child, Chanelle, was born back in 1994. Since becoming an adult, Chanelle, affectionately known as Nana, has tried her hand at many ventures.
She even followed in her father’s footsteps as a musician. She released her first single in July 2020 under the names Chanelle Valentine and Nellelove.
Taking the name Valentine suggested that Chanelle wanted to pay tribute to her mother, who had always stayed out of the spotlight while the kids were growing up.
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However, this was not ever meant to look like Chanelle was taking a shot at her dad. According to reports, she did this with the full love and support of Nelly. Chanelle chose to chase a life in the music industry despite having attended Columbia College in Chicago for a business degree.
On her 27th birthday, Nelly shared a throwback photo of him and his daughter on Instagram. In the caption, he called her his mini-me.
It was revealed on Chanelle’s own social media that she actually has a child of her own. So, even though he’s just now having his first child with Ashanti, he’s actually already a grandfather.
Nelly and Tre Are Very Close
The rapper’s second child was a boy, named after Nelly. Cornell III, also known as Tre, was born in 1999.
As well as his name, Tre inherited even more of his dad’s traits. He is a former high school football player, just like Nelly, who was believed to have shown serious potential as an athlete.
However, he stopped playing after graduating to pursue other career ambitions. According to his Instagram page, which has over 150,000 followers, he now works as a producer.
Some insane reports have been written about Nelly’s son’s staggering net worth despite his young age. According to sources, he has a net worth of around $5 million.
Older reports also claim that Tre had a girlfriend named Macee Bradley. However, information on Tre’s personal life has shrunk in recent years. Despite his huge online following, Tre rarely shares anything about himself on social media.
Nelly has previously talked about how alike he and his son really are. In 2015, during an interview on The Real, he commented on the total lack of a generational difference between him and Tre.
He said that he and his son could literally just be buddies. They even wore the same shoes! However, he was also aware that there always be some differences between him and his kids.
His approach was always just to let whatever happens happen. He said that you have to let the youth be the youth. He would let them make their own mistakes while still trying to be a guide.
Nelly Was a Single Father, Not a Baby Daddy
In the same interview, Nelly was asked about his experience as a single dad, since he and Channetta were no longer raising their kids as a couple. He talked about how important it was that there were single fathers out there, instead of just baby daddies. It seemed that Nelly was focused on being present in his kids’ lives, instead of keeping his distance from them.
According to reports, Nelly’s two kids have different mothers. The identities of both have been kept from the public.
Nelly has been in numerous high-profile romantic relationships with some well-known women. These have included Eve, Lashontae Heckard, Karrine Steffans, and Kelly Rowland. Other than Ashanti, most of Nelly’s relationships were pretty brief.
The other woman who had the longest relationship with the rapper was Shantel Jackson. Shantel dated Nelly for around 7 years before they broke up in 2021. She was a major presence in his kids’ lives
Nelly met the actress shortly after she split up with boxing legend Floyd Mayweather. There had been rumors for a while that the couple ended things amid rumors of cheating.
Although Floyd was originally believed to be the guilty party, rumors soon started swirling that Shantel had had an affair with a well-known hip-hop star. Although nothing was ever proven, Nelly and Shantel went public as a couple that same year.
Things quickly became serious for the new lovers. Though Nelly has never married, Shantel quickly began putting out signals that she was ready to take that step with him.
The signs weren’t always that subtle. In 2016, Shantel shared an Instagram post featuring an elephant family of three, a father and mother with a baby elephant. Although probably accidental, it seemed pretty strange that the picture didn’t acknowledge the kids Nelly already had.
Nelly Adopted His Nieces
Despite parting ways without ever actually going down the aisle, there was no doubt that they both took their relationship seriously. Nelly clearly wanted Shantel to be close to his family.
She was even featured on Nelly’s short-lived reality show Nellyville. The show, which ran from 2014 to 2015, was the first time people saw the rapper at home with his kids.
It wasn’t just Chanelle and Tre who we got to see with their dad. Nelly actually also adopted his niece and nephew, Sydney and Lil Shawn.
This came about due to some heartbreaking circumstances. Nelly took in his new adopted kids in 2005 after the loss of his sister Jackie Donahue. She lost her life in a St. Louis, Missouri hospital after a years-long battle with leukemia.
According to Today, Jackie was diagnosed with the illness in March 2001. The cancer had been in remission for two years before Jackie suffered a relapse.
Nelly had done all he could to keep Jackie alive with multiple drives for bone marrow donations. Sadly, a match was never found.
According to Nelly’s publicist, Jackie and Nelly had been extremely close. She even worked as the rapper’s stylist.
After losing his sister, Nelly became the adoptive father to two more kids, becoming a single parent to four. A lot has changed since then, with Nelly now happy in a relationship with another kid on the way. If his track record is anything to go by, it seems that Nelly is more than ready to become a father all over again.
