By the time you read this, Cardi B and Offset might just be back together again. That’s just how topsy-turvy the rap royalty’s relationship has been, with more twists and turns than the season-long plot of Lovecraft Country. When I started this post, they were in the process of a divorce after two-and-a-half years of marriage — give or take that month in 2018 when it looked like they were quits the first time. By the time I finish it, Cardi and ‘Set might be well on the way to giving Kulture a little sibling, judging from the videos of Cardi’s 28th birthday celebration they’ve been posting to social media.
If you’re a little confused about how we got here, read on. Below is a timeline of all the public ups and downs of Cardi B and Offset’s relationship so far. Think of it as a recap before the next wild episode because knowing these two, anything can happen.
February 2017: The Dating Rumors Begin
The first inkling that the two rappers might be an item preceded the release of Cardi’s career-making hit “Bodak Yellow” by several months. Cardi and Offset were first seen at the 2017 Super Bowl, sparking “power couple” speculation among those in the know and setting the stage for the serial soap opera drama that would follow them for the next three years.
Summer 2017: Rumors Of Engagement
Just six months after the Super Bowl — which the duo later confirmed was the venue for their first date — Cardi appeared to confirm a report that Offset had proposed privately. However, just days later, Cardi contradicted that report on the MTV VMAs red carpet, challenging interviewer Charlamagne The God, “Do you see a ring on my ring finger?” Of course, it wouldn’t be long before we all did — and before that ring would pull more disappearing acts than both stars The Prestige combined.
October 2017: From Break-Up To Make-Up To Officially Enagaged
If your seatbeats weren’t already securely fastened, you might have found yourself thrown for a loop in Autumn 2017, when Cardi seemingly broke up with Offset via social media over what was apparently a teensy misunderstanding involving a lost blanket. They reconciled by the time the sun came up, then a few days later, Offset officially proposed at Powerhouse Philly during the couple’s set, dropping to one knee and popping the question in front of the sold-out crowd at the Wells Fargo Center. Before the year was out, though, they were already battling rumors of infidelity, which would dog them for the next two years.
April 2018: Cardi Reveals Her Pregnancy
The cheating rumors faded to the background in 2018 with the release of Cardi’s debut album Invasion Of Privacy and then, just just days later, Cardi’s debut performance on Saturday Night Live, where she revealed that the couple was expecting their first child.
June 2018: Secret Marriage Confirmed
Just months later, TMZ surfaced the couple’s marriage certificate, confirming that they’d actually been married since September 2017. Cardi confirmed this in a social media post after the initial report. “Our relationship was so new,” Cardi explained. “…Breaking up and making up and we had a lot of growing up to do but we was so in love, we didn’t want to lose each other. One morning in September, we woke up and decided to get married. 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!”
July 2018: Kulture Is Born
One month after revealing that they’d been married all along, Cardi and Offset welcomed their baby girl Kulture into the world. It’d be another few months before they shared photos of her with their fans and another two years before Kulture got her own Instagra, but their daughter has been a fixture of their posts and the focus of their relationship.
December 2018: Cardi Announces They’re Breaking Up (Again), For Real This Time
In the year since the first Offset cheating rumors surfaced, the couple said they’d been trying to work things out but had been unsuccessful, leading to Cardi announcing their breakup on Instagram. “It’s nobody’s fault,” she insisted at the time. “I guess we grew out of love.” Around the same time, Cardi was accused of ordering an attack on Offset’s alleged mistress — and is still awaiting trial as the district attorney pushes for a plea deal.
December 2018: Offset’s Grand Gesture
The same month, Offset infamously crashed Cardi B’s headlining set at Rolling Loud in Los Angeles in a last-ditch, hail-mary display right out of a rom-com. Unfortunately for him, fans received it a little less warmly than When Harry Met Sally, accusing him of emotional manipulation. Whatever you want to call it, Offset was able to get Cardi to consider giving things another go, as she was seen wearing her ring again in February 2019 and they spent much of the year explaining away their reconciliation. In December 2019, almost a year to the day of her Rolling Loud set, Cardi explained why she let her husband back into her life: “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.”
September 2020: Cardi Files For Divorce
At the beginning of 2020, the couple appeared to be in a stable place. Offset defended Cardi’s honor at a club, the two joked away their early pandemic lockdown with antics on social media, and wished each other happy Mother’s and Father’s Day, all while appearing on Offset’s Quibi show and celebrating Kulture’s birthday so loudly a neighbor called the police.
Somewhere along the way, though, lockdown must have gotten stale, turning their relationship bitter. On September 15, Cardi filed to divorce Offset, explaining on Instagram that “I just got tired of f*cking arguing. I got tired of not seeing things eye to eye.” Within the next few weeks, Cardi says her DMs were “flooded” by men shooting their respective shots, while Offset merely played it cool, liking one of her posts about being single.
October 2020: Together Again (For Now)! Happily Ever After?
Of course, Offset seemingly remains a sucker for grand gestures; this time around, he bought a billboard in LA wishing Cardi an early happy birthday and told fans online he missed “Mrs. WAP,” referring to Cardi’s insanely popular new single. He followed up with another big-ticket purchase: A Rolls-Royce truck.
For Cardi’s birthday, the two posted a ton of videos on Instagram of Cardi dancing at what looks like a private celebration. They were also seen kissing at a club in Vegas ahead of their secret celebration, so perhaps all’s well that ends well — until next year.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.