Cardi B Is Ready to Talk About Why She Stayed With Offset After He Cheated

This time last year, Cardi B announced on Instagram that she was getting a divorce from Offset after rumors he cheated plagued the couple. They called the divorce off at the end of January and have been together since. The cheating rumors haven't completely gone away: there was one last week when Tekashi 6ix9ine's girlfriend shared a flirty DM Offset sent her on Instagram; Cardi revealed that Offset's Instagram had been hacked when the DM was sent so it wasn't really from him.

But Cardi is ready to talk about why she didn't leave Offset last year, the backlash she got about her decision, and how she feels about infidelity now.

In her new Vogue interview, Cardi confirmed Offset cheated on her. “When me and my husband got into our issues—you know, he cheated and everything—and I decided to stay with him and work together with him, a lot of people were so mad at me; a lot of women felt disappointed in me,” Cardi started. “But it’s real-life shit. If you love somebody and you stop being with them, and you’re depressed and social media is telling you not to talk to that person because he cheated, you’re not really happy on the inside until you have the conversation. Then, if you get back with them, it’s like, how could you? You let all of us down. 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. That’s including everything. When I was pregnant with Kulture, a lot of people was like, oh, he has three kids already; why would you have a kid with somebody that have three kids? And it’s like, how is that such a bad thing? My dad has eight kids, and we all get along, and it feels better, fuller. And with Offset, I feel like his kids just bring a pop of fun to life when they’re in his house. I actually love it. It brings out a different side of him that I like to see, and I love to see my baby interacting with her siblings. The more the merrier.”

“My thing is, everybody on social media acts like relationships is perfect,” Cardi continued. “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. 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. He has my back for everything, I have his back for everything, so when you cheat, you’re betraying the person that has your back the most. Why would you do that? We have come to a clear understanding. For me, monogamy is the only way. I’ll beat your ass if you cheat on me.”

Cardi also clarified her remarks that stripping saved her in her late tees ad early 20s, explaining to the magazine that a previous boyfriend had cheated on her, and the money she earned from stripping became her way out of a dangerous situation. “At that time I just felt like my world was coming to an end," she said. "I was that teenager who was like, I don’t need nobody. But my boyfriend kept cheating on me. He and I used to get into arguments, hitting each other a lot. Girls like to say, ‘I will beat a nigga’s ass.’ I used to have that mentality. I used to hit my first boyfriend, until he started hitting me back and it just got out of control. But I started stripping, and I made enough money to move out.”