A relationship can really look like anything. Take, for example, Cardi B and Offset’s. The rappers bring new meaning to the term on-again, off-again. They just welcomed their third child together (mazel!), and last month Cardi filed for divorce for the second time. Most recently, they got into it on Instagram Live. Over the past seven years, these two broke up and got back together multiple times, endured several cheating scandals, had one secret marriage, and have been incredibly open about their sex life. You’ve probably forgotten about some of the wild times they’ve had together, so allow me to walk you down memory lane.
Offset offered Cardi a rose
Before their first date, Offset took Cardi out in a group, Bachelor style, in early 2017. In a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone, Offset recalled being taken by Cardi as she became a star in the rap world. “I was like, ‘Damn, I am on her!’” he told the magazine. “I am like, ‘Shit, I like Cardi B!’” He had his publicist set up a dinner with several women, including Cardi, and she walked away with the final rose.
They had their first date at the Super Bowl
On February 5, 2017, Offset took Cardi to watch his hometown team, the Atlanta Falcons, play in the Super Bowl. Years later, he explained his big move on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, saying, “My first date, I went big. I wanted to do something that was not normally done, you know what I’m saying? I wanted to have fun … so I took her to the Super Bowl.” That certainly is not how first dates are “normally done,” I’ll give him that.
“I never wanted to date a rapper because I would hate to look crazy in public,” Cardi later told GQ about the beginning of their relationship. When asked what she meant by crazy, she clarified: “Like you on a date with me but you fucking other bitches.”
Love was in the air
The couple celebrated their first Valentine’s Day together by making their relationship Instagram official. She captioned a now-deleted video of them at the Super Bowl with “Oooh hey babe 💋.” She also responded to a tweet confirming that Offset loved how “nasty and hood” she was.
A few days later, Cardi released the “Lick” remix featuring Offset. The track was recorded in late 2016, but their new status as a couple made it a much bigger deal.
A Met Gala prequel
Cardi would go on to become a mainstay on the Met Gala carpet, but in May 2017 she and Offset only swung by an after-party. This appearance came after a few months of their being coy about their status, with her telling The Fader in March, “I’m not saying I’m dating an Atlanta guy.” A couple of weeks after they stepped out in New York, they dropped the video for “Lick.”
Cardi posted through it
Clearly upset about something, in October 2017 Cardi posted a selfie to her Instagram Story with the caption “Single.” A few days later, she apologized for letting her emotions get the best of her. She shared a photo of Offset to her story, writing, “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. I came to my senses now. I’m sorry … waffle house on me?”
Offset proposed to Cardi B onstage
A week after Cardi declared herself single (and then took it back), Offset proposed to her onstage at a concert in Philadelphia.
Afterward, Offset shared videos of her eight-carat ring on his Instagram story. “She said yes,” he wrote.
They got hacked
On Christmas Eve 2017, Cardi got a pretty bad gift: She and Offset were victims of an iCloud hack, which resulted in nude videos of her being leaked as well as a video from September in which Offset appeared to cheat on her. (Hence Cardi saying she was single in October.)
The couple seemingly worked through it, with Cardi tweeting, “I still put the pussy on Offset,” on Christmas Day. They also faked having sex on Instagram Live.
Offset made his love permanent
In January 2018, Offset proved his love for Cardi was real by getting her name tattooed on his neck alongside one of the Powerpuff Girls.
Cardi requested that everyone chill out
In the cover story for the February 2018 issue of Cosmopolitan, Cardi spoke out about Offset’s infidelity and her own indiscretions in their relationship. “It’s like 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 the magazine. “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. But I want to work out my shit with my man, and I don’t got to explain why. 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.”
Around this time, people began to speculate that Cardi was pregnant. She denied the rumor and politely requested that people let her “fat in peace.”
She actually was pregnant
Cardi revealed her pregnancy Beyoncé style while performing as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live in April 2018.
Because she does not play around, Cardi revealed her bump while delivering an emotional performance of “Be Careful,” a song about how painful it was when Offset cheated on her. “Yeah, it’s not a threat, it’s a warnin’ / Be careful with me / Yeah, my heart is like a package with a ‘fragile’ label on it,” she rapped.
Surprise! They’d been married for months
At the BET awards in June 2018, Offset called Cardi “my wife” while he, Quavo, and Takeoff were accepting the award for Best Group. TMZ did some digging and found the couple had gotten a marriage certificate on September 20, 2017, about a month before Offset’s public proposal in Philly.
Cardi got on Twitter to tell all of us “lil nosey fucks” what the deal was.
She revealed the couple had decided to get married on a whim and did so with no frills and only her cousin as a witness.
Kulture was born
On July 10, 2018, Cardi and Offset welcomed their daughter Kulture.
They celebrated their wedding anniversary
In a #TBT post, Cardi shared a photo of her and Offset’s Über-intimate wedding ceremony for their one-year anniversary.
Cardi announced they had broken up
In December, Cardi posted a video to Instagram in which she revealed she and Offset were no more. “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. “We are really good friends, and we are really good business partners — you know he’s always somebody that I run 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.”
Ever the diplomat, Cardi claimed that the split was “nobody’s fault” and that the couple “just grew out of love.”
TMZ, however, reported there was a reason for the breakup. Shortly before Cardi announced their separation, what appeared to be text messages between Offset and a woman named Summer Bunni leaked. In the texts — dated June 28, 2018, less than two weeks before Kulture was born — Offset requested a threesome with Bunni and the rapper Cuban Doll. A source told TMZ Cardi was especially upset that Offset would cheat on her with a rapper who had been accused of stealing her flow.
Offset tried repeatedly to get Cardi back
Offset crashed Cardi’s Rolling Loud performance in Los Angeles on December 17 in an attempt to win her back. For some reason, he thought it would be a good idea to show up to her job and interrupt her set with a massive floral arrangement that spelled out “Take me back, Cardi.” In the video, you can see she is not pleased with his grand gesture.
For Christmas, Offset balled out on gifts for Cardi, including four Birkin bags and at least nine pairs of Louboutins.
These two can’t stay apart for long
In early February 2019, it looked as if things were back on between the rappers. TMZ even reported Cardi was moving back in with Offset. She denied the rumor, but the next day, the outlet shared a video of her FaceTiming with Offset and referring to him as her “significant other.”
By Valentine’s Day, they were for sure back together. In an Instagram Story, Cardi showed off the rose petals Offset had scattered around their room. She also revealed she was wearing her massive engagement ring once again. That’s amore!
Cardi filed for divorce
Has any couple ever been more on and off than these two? In September 2020, Cardi filed for divorce on the heels of her telling Elle that her relationship has “a lot of drama.” She noted, however, that there was also “a lot of passion, there’s a lot of trust, there’s a big friendship.”
But she still had needs
The couple were spotted partying together in Las Vegas for Cardi’s 28th birthday. They made out, she gave him a lap dance, he gifted her a Rolls-Royce — it certainly seemed things were back on. She later got on Instagram Live and said she was just a “crazy bitch.”
“It’s really hard not to talk to your best friend. And it’s really hard to have no dick,” she said. Fair enough. A source later told Us Weekly that, while the divorce was still happening, “they still hook up occasionally and are trying to co-parent as best as they can.”
And then they got back together
In November 2020, Cardi filed to dismiss her divorce petition.
Cardi got pregnant with baby No. 2
Just as she did with Kulture, Cardi announced her second pregnancy while performing on live TV. This time, she was joining Migos at the BET Awards in June 2021. Why mess with a winning formula?
Wave was born
That September, Cardi announced that she had given birth to the couple’s son.
She waited until April 2022 to share his name, Wave, via an Instagram carousel of him looking both adorable and iced out.
It was Offset’s turn to hurl cheating accusations
These two had mostly chilled out for almost two years when, in June 2023, Offset accused Cardi of cheating on him in an Instagram Story. Cardi quickly retaliated by getting on Twitter Spaces and singing Keyshia Cole’s “I Should Have Cheated” before launching into a sort of defense.
“I think sometimes motherfuckers forget,” she said. “I’m Cardi B. If I was giving this pussy to anybody it be not just anybody. Can’t fuck regular-degular-shmegular, ’cause they gonna tell the world.”
“Please, boy, stop acting stupid,” she said to Offset specifically. “Going crazy over a fucking space. Don’t play with me. What the fuck. Stop playing.”
Offset later admitted he’d been lying about Cardi cheating. In an interview, he told radio personality Angela Yee the two had been fighting — “If you got a New York woman, you know she’s a pit bull at the mouth” — and he wanted to piss her off. He was also drunk, which surely didn’t help things.
Can you guess what happened next?
They broke up. They unfollowed each other on Instagram, and shortly after, Cardi announced their split on Instagram Live in December 2023. While sad, she did seem hopeful about the start of a new year. “I wanna start 2024, like, fresh, open,” she said. “I don’t know. I’m curious for a new life, for a new beginning. And yeah, I’m excited.”
But guess what …
They hooked up on New Year’s Eve. Cardi and Offset were seen partying at a Miami strip club, but she later clarified they were not back together. They were just “vibing.” On X Spaces (as it was known by this point), Cardi set the record straight. “Was I clubbing with my baby father yesterday? Yes. Did I got dicked down yesterday? Absolutely, baby,” she said. She added that both of them had things they needed to work on but that they were going to couples therapy for the first time and putting in the effort toward a healthy relationship. “Yesterday was a vibe, and we were having a good time,” Cardi said. “But that doesn’t mean it solves our problems.”
And then she filed for divorce again
Cardi and Offset were seen looking like a couple several times in the first half of 2024. They spent Valentine’s Day together, they held hands outside a Met Gala after-party, they went to a Knicks game, and she even called him her “support system” and “best friend” in a Rolling Stone interview.
Nonetheless, she filed for divorce again in August 2024. New rumors had emerged claiming Offset had cheated again, which he denied. A source told “Page Six” it was not infidelity that led Cardi to file for the second time: “They’ve grown apart. That’s what drove her to this decision more than anything else.”
Cardi announced her third pregnancy
The day after she filed for divorce, Cardi announced that she and Offset were expecting their third child together. “With every ending comes a new beginning,” she wrote on Instagram.
Baby No. 3 arrived
On September 7, Cardi gave birth to a daughter with Offset by her side. In the photos she shared to Instagram, Offset held the newborn while flanked by Kulture and Wave.
They took their beef public
On Wednesday, Cardi and Offset brought their issues to the public forum. Cardi went live on Instagram and badmouthed Offset, saying that she “regrets” him. “I’m too good for you. I’ve always been too good for you,” she said, per People.
“Since you wanna fucking threaten me, talking about you wanna take my shit? You wanna take my shit because I’m moving on?,” she asked. “Move on. Move on. Why can’t you move on?”
Meanwhile, Offset was in the comments of the livestream, accusing his ex of cheating on him while they were pregnant. “U fucked with a baby inside tell the truth,” he wrote. Later, Cardi tweeted, “AND DID !!!!!!” which those of us watching this saga believe is her way of confirming the infidelity allegations.
While on Instagram Live, Cardi did insinuate that their divorce battle is growing contentious (in case you couldn’t tell). “It’s no fun when Mama’s got the gun, right?,” she asked. “Now we’re going to court war, right?”
What’s next for this couple is really anyone’s guess. My money is on them actually getting divorced, as their breakups have never really appeared this nasty before. That being said, you never know with these two. Maybe next week they’ll announce that they’ve got Dr. Orna on retainer and are exploring ethical non-monogamy.