A Complete Timeline of Cardi B and Offset's Relationship Drama
Cardi B and Offset had a tumultuous 2018, to say the least.
They started the year secretly married, but have dealt with cheating rumors, which continue to plague them to this day. In April, Cardi confirmed they were expecting a baby. In June, their marriage became public.
And in December, Cardi announced they’d fallen out of love and would be breaking up.
So what happened? And when? And what went wrong? It’s hard to say, but here’s an exhaustive timeline of their entire coupledom.
Sometime in 2016: Cardi and Offset meet at an “industry event.”
Not much is known of the couple’s first meeting, but Cardi has said they first met at an “industry event” and Offset pursued her.
"He was very consistent," Cardi said in a video on her Twitter account, recapping the night they met. "He really wanted to talk to me.”
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January 2017: They release a song together called “Lick.”
At this point, they were still ostensibly only collaborators and/or friends - and they were also still far from household names.
Cardi was still best known as a reality star at this point; her first hit, “Bodak Yellow,” wouldn’t come out for months. Migos’ “Bad and Boujee” was climbing the charts, after having been released in October 2016, so Offset’s star was on the rise.
Feb. 2, 2017: Offset appears on Cardi’s Instagram at the Super Bowl.
Cardi B and Offset attended the 2017 Super Bowl together. Cardi posted on her Instagram Story about it, referring to Offset as “my friend… you know what I’m saying?”
People sensed what was really up, though, and rumors started flying that the duo were dating. Offset confirmed to Rolling Stone in January 2018 that this had been the pair’s first real date. He called it a “power move,” but we’d say the real power move is putting a guy on your Instagram the first time he takes you out, while simultaneously referring to him as a friend.
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Feb. 14, 2017: Cardi posts a pic of them together with a kissy-face for Valentine’s Day, pretty much confirming they’re together.
The post has since been deleted, but it was a photo of them at the Super Bowl a few weeks earlier, according to Vibe. Offset commented with the boyfriend-girlfriend emoji, according to Bossip, so clearly they were well and truly hooking up by this point - although it’d be a long time before they admitted it.
June 22, 2017: Cardi continues to deny she’s dating Offset, this time in an interview.
Cardi nabbed the cover of Fader magazine, but refused to confirm or define her relationship with Offset. She did talk about his work ethic, though.
“It’s been a blessing, me meeting him and meeting his friends. I see how hard they work. And that motivated me to work even harder,” she told Fader. “And I see how good things are going for them and how popping it is to be number one. And I’m like, I want that.”
Aug. 27, 2017: Cardi drops a hilariously obvious marriage hint at the VMAs.
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While talking to Charlamagne Tha God, Cardi - who still hadn’t confirmed she was even dating Offset - said, "I'm a woman. Every woman, I think, wants to get married and wants to have children. It's never too early to get married now. You know, if you want to propose to me, you can.”
Not very subtle - but it apparently worked.
Sept. 20, 2017: Cardi and Offset get secretly married.
While the rest of the world was obsessing over her new single “Bodak Yellow,” Cardi was off getting married in secret, in Fulton County, Georgia.
The general public didn’t learn the news until TMZ tracked down the couple’s wedding certificate in June 2018. At that point, they’d been married for eight months but still hadn’t announced it to the public.
Oct. 22, 2017: Cardi posts that she’s “single,” then backtracks and says she was being “extreme.”
Over the course of a few hours, Cardi posted a selfie with the word “single,” then apparently took it back and confessed she was being “extreme.”
“So listen babes ,I exaggerated alil bit earlier cause I was really upset and the Bronx girl in me always have to go to the extreme,” she wrote, over a photo of Offset. “I came to my senses now.Im sorry ...waffle house on me ?”
Oct. 27, 2017: Offset “proposes” to Cardi onstage - even though they’re already secretly hitched.
Cardi and Offset made headlines with this proposal - but little did we all know, they were already married. Later, Cardi would reference the proposal in a statement about their wedding.
“I appreciate and love my husband so much for still wanting for me have that special moment that every girl dreams of,” she tweeted the following June, “when he got down on his knee and put a ring on my finger and he did that for me!!”
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Jan. 8, 2018: The couple is rocked by cheating rumors.
Offset was suspected of cheating on Cardi at the beginning of 2018. Rumors flew that he’d not only cheated on her, but made a sex tape with someone else. This wasn’t the first time rumors like these had popped up, and Cardi was already sick of hearing people’s opinions on her partner’s alleged infidelity.
"I'm going to make a decision in my own times with my heart and mind," she wrote on Twitter. "I don't need to be rushed or be told what to do. Its my life! I belong to me not to the world."
Feb. 3, 2018: People start speculating that Cardi’s pregnant, but she denies it and implores fans to let her “fat in peace.”
Cardi posted a video on Instagram and a fan, apropos of nothing, commented, “Is there maybe a Kylie Jenner secret that we need to know about lol Just asking,” referring to Kylie’s surprise-baby-heard-round-the-world.
Cardi swiftly responded, “No bitch I’m just getting fat. Let me fat in peace.”
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Feb. 14, 2018: TMZ reports that Cardi’s pregnant.
Apparently one of Cardi B’s staff members let it slip at a Super Bowl party that she was pregnant, and TMZ got their hands on the info. Cardi responded to their publication of the rumor by posting an angry photo of Buttercup from “The Powerpuff Girls” with the caption, “Getting on my damn nerves this morning.”
Feb. 27, 2018: Cardi explains why she stayed with Offset despite the rumors and basically tells everyone to eff off.
In her cover interview for Cosmopolitan, Cardi addressed all the drama that was swirling around the couple.
“Everybody is coming down my neck like, ‘Why are you not leaving him? You have low self-esteem.’ I don’t have low self-esteem,” she told Cosmopolitan. “I know I look good. I know I’m rich, I know I’m talented. I know I could get any man I want-any basketball player, football player.”
Cardi said she wanted to work things out with Offset - and added that she’s “no angel.”
“I want to work out my shit with my man, and I don’t got to explain why,” she said. “I’m not your property. This is my life ... I’m going to take my time, and I’m going to decide on my decision … It’s not right, what he fucking did - but people don’t know what I did, ’cause I ain’t no angel.”
April 2018: Cardi confirms her pregnancy at an SNL performance.
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So much for fatting in peace. A beaming Cardi performed on Saturday Night Live in a tight white dress that showed off her pregnancy.
Offset posted on Instagram to thank fans for their support, but the post has since been deleted. The general public still believed the couple was engaged - not married - at this point.
June 25, 2018: TMZ breaks the news that the couple’s been married for eight months, and Cardi confirms.
Tricky tricky, Cardi and Offset. The couple managed to keep their nuptials secret all the way up until June 2018, when TMZ finally found their wedding certificate.
Cardi confirmed the news with a tweeted Notes App statement, as one does:
"There are so many moments that I share with the world and there are moments that I want to keep for myself! Getting married was one of those moments! Our relationship was so new breaking up and making up and we had a lot of growing to do but we was so in love we didn't want to lose each other."
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The couple decided to get married on a whim one morning in September, she added:
“We found someone to marry us, and she did, just the two of us and my cousin. I said I do, with no dress, no makeup and no ring!”
She said in another tweet, “Well now since you lil nosey f--ks know at least ya can stop saying I had a baby out of wedlock.”
July 11, 2018: Cardi and Offset announce the birth of their baby.
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Cardi posted an insanely epic pregnancy glam-shot along with the baby’s name, Kulture Kiari Cephus, and birthdate: July 10, 2018. She tagged Offset.
Aug. 31, 2018: Damning rumors about Cardi ordering an attack on two women in a strip club emerge.
There was trouble in paradise shortly after Kulture’s birth. Cardi was accused of throwing a bottle at two women in a strip club and ordering members of her entourage to attack them, according to TMZ.
One of the women was allegedly attacked on Aug. 15. Both claim Cardi’s posse attacked them on Aug. 29 when Migos were performing at the strip club where they worked as bartenders. Both the women and sources close to Cardi have said Cardi was not physically involved in the altercations. The women and TMZ allege that the attacks were ordered because Cardi thought Offset had cheated with one of the women.
Sept. 20, 2018: In honor of their one-year anniversary, Cardi shares a never-before-seen photo of the couple’s wedding.
It turns out Cardi and Offset got married in the most casual possible outfits: his-and-hers tracksuits.
Oct. 1, 2018: Cardi turns herself in for the aforementioned strip club attack.
Cardi was charged with assault and reckless endangerment for the alleged attack, according to TMZ, which arose because Cardi believed one of the women had slept with Offset.
Oct. 9, 2018: Cardi confesses that rumors of Offset’s infidelity get to her.
In an interview with W magazine, Cardi got real about how the ongoing cheating rumors make her feel.
“Every single day there’s rumors about me and my dude,” she said. “And it almost drives me crazy, because I start to believe them. I don’t have no proof. I don’t have receipts. But I just got to know my man. We practically on the phone 24 hours a day. If I can’t find him, I’m going to find his friend. Somebody going to answer the phone. But I cannot be feeling insecure, to a point that I would drive my dude away, because these people want that to happen.”
Oct. 10, 2018: Cardi and Offset attend the American Music Awards together.
Despite constant rumors about Offset’s infidelity and Cardi’s legal issues, the pair put on a united front at the AMAs.
Oct. 14, 2018: Offset surprises Cardi with a giant party and a ridiculous assortment of birthday gifts.
Offset lured Cardi out with promises of a dinner date, but surprised her with a massive surprise party, six dozen roses, a diamond-studded bracelet with their daughter’s name, and more.
Dec. 5, 2018: Cardi announces that she and Offset have split.
Somewhat out of nowhere, Cardi announced early in December that she and Offset were breaking up.
“So everybody been bugging me and everything, and you know I’ve been trying to work things out with my baby father for a hot minute now," she said in an Instagram video. "And we’re really good friends and you know, we’re really good business partners - you know he’s always somebody that I went to to talk to, and we got a lot of love for each other but things just haven’t been working out between us for a long time.”
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“And it’s nobody fault," she added. "It’s just like, I guess we just grew out of love, but we’re not together anymore. I don’t know it might take time to get a divorce, and I’m going to always have a lot of love for him because he is my daughter’s father and yeah.”
The Instagram account @commentsbycelebs shared the video, and Offset commented, "y'all won.”
Meanwhile, the rumor mill was in overdrive. That same day, TMZ reported that Offset had been trying to arrange a sexcapade between himself and two women known as Cuban Doll and Summer Bunni, with no Cardi to be found. Yikes.
Dec. 6, 2018: Cardi shares a photo of baby Kulture’s face for the first time.
Some might say she was trying to steer the news away from their impending divorce. But Cardi finally shared a pic of Kulture the day after announcing her breakup from Offset.
Dec. 9, 2018: Offset tweets that he misses Cardi.
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Pretty self-explanatory.
Dec. 10, 2018: Cardi denies rumors that their entire relationship was fake.
Cardi took to Instagram Live to clear a few things up, and said there was no way her relationship with Offset was fake.
“Ain’t no type of publicity that I would ever want that would have my daughter looking at me crazy when she gets older,” she said. “My relationship was never fake. I met this n-a, he was on my ass, I gave him a chance and we fell in love with each other, things was not always gravy because at the end of the day we are two different people. But we never did anything for f*cking publicity, bitch. You think I got f*cking pregnant, could have ruined my career for f*cking publicity?"
Dec. 15, 2018: Offset apologizes on Instagram for being a “selfish, messed up husband” and says he wants Cardi back.
In a video posted to his Instagram, Offset said he only had one birthday wish, and it’s to get his wife back.
“I wanna apologize to you, Cardi,” he said. “I know I embarrassed you. I was partaking in activity I shouldn’t have been taking in.”
He called himself a “selfish, messed-up husband” and said he apologized. Cardi hasn’t responded, but fans were clearly sick of his apologies even before he posted the video.
“Are y’all going thru a lot?” one Instagram commenter asked. “Or are you putting her thru a lot?”
“Dude! you will not stop cheating,” another said, “you will only get better at hiding it. It cannot be helped. You will do it again and disrespect her. Your apologies are hollow to her.”
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Dec. 16, 2018: Offset ambushes Cardi onstage.
Cardi headlined the Rolling Loud music festival on Dec. 16, and her set was interrupted when Offset walked onto the stage, with assistants wheeling out a series of signs that said “Take Me Back, Cardi.”
Cardi looked annoyed in videos of the encounter. After Offset left the stage, she finished her set.
Later, she took to Instagram Live after the set to share her reaction with fans.
"I get that he's trying,” she said. “It's hard. It's gonna take a long time to - I don't know what's going to happen next [...] I just feel bad. This is why I don't like surprises."
The plot thickened in the aftermath of the onstage ambush. Organizers of the Rolling Loud festival claimed that Cardi, or at least her people, knew Offset would be joining her onstage the whole time. And judging by their past sneaky onstage faux-proposal, fans might not put it past them to fake another dramatic onstage moment.
Many commentators and fans are agreeing that Offset’s antics - from the pleading Instagram video to the gesture onstage - are verging on harassment, or even emotional abuse.
But Cardi has since stuck up for her ex, urging people not to “bash” him.
"I know I see a lot of people bashing me because I'm defending my baby's father, they think I'm gonna get back together with him,” she said on Instagram. “I'm not saying that I'm gonna get back together with him, I just don't like that bashing online thing.”
In the end, it’s impossible to say what these two will have in store for us in the new year. But chances are it’ll be dramatic.
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