With cheating rumors, social media haters, a pregnancy announcement on live TV and a Rolling Stone cover, Cardi B's road to motherhood has been filled with highs and lows.
In late December, when she was in her first trimester and before she confirmed her pregnancy and months after she released her debut single "Bodak Yellow," rumors began circulating that her partner Offset had cheated on her. She seemingly confirmed the scandal but asked people to respect her privacy, saying, "I'm going to make a decision in my own times with my heart and mind. I don't need to be rushed or be told what to do. Its my life! I belong to me not to the world."
"No it's not right for a n---a to cheat," she said. "But what you want me to do? Go f--k me another n---a? start all over again and get cheated on again? This s--t happens to everyone and i be too You too... People handle they relationship different soo."
She later told Cosmopolitan, "It's like everybody is coming down my neck like, 'Why are you not leaving him? You have low self-esteem.' 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 sh-t with my man, and I don't got to explain why."
Cardi also referenced the cheating allegations in a new single, "Be Careful," released in March.
Cardi was in great spirits at the 2018 Grammys in late January, when she happily declared to E! News that she has "butterflies in my stomach and vagina!"
A week later, she responded to pregnancy speculation from fans, telling one, "No bitch I'm just getting fat. Let me fat in peace." She remained coy about pregnancy rumors in March as well, during an Apple Music Beats 1 interview.
In April, she confirmed she is pregnant with her first child, debuting her baby bump to the world via an SNL performance. This will be Offset's fourth child.
Reactions to her announcement were plentiful and mixed.
"This is why I did not wanted to say nothing," Cardi wrote on Instagram Stories. "People be so thirsty to scrutinize and try to destroy something that it suppose to be a blessing."
Cardi later revealed in an interview on Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club that her pregnancy was unplanned and that she had initially thought about terminating it.
"I just didn't want to deal with the whole abortion thing. I just didn't want to," she said. "You know what—I'm a grown woman. I'm 25 years old. I'm a schmillionaire and I'm prepared for this."
Cardi was again in great spirits later that month at the 2018 Coachella festival, where she twerked while performing onstage.
"I was just trying to show the world how I got pregnant in the first place," Cardi told Ellen DeGeneres. "Like that! Like that! That's how it happened."
Later that month, Cardi canceled tour dates to concentrate on her pregnancy. She also fired back at her haters online and ranted about social media, calling it a "disgusting place."
"It makes me question humanity and not only on celebs, on other people and situations," she said. "I see people on here laughing and getting joy of other people misery. People be wishing for other peoples kids to be taking away from them. Be wishing that people career fail and fall not knowing how they going to provide for their family next. Wishing heartaches and break up on people's relationships, marriage and homes. Lowering people self-esteem and what ya do it for?"
"Likes, retweets and a couple of followers or a comment back?" she continued. "Ya forget the evil s--t and mind ya have is the reason why God has you held back in life .I'm not talking bout my self. I just see a lot of f--ked up s--t and it's just disgust me."
Meanwhile, Cardi was all smiles as she performed at the 2018 Billboard Latin Music Awards and while walking the red carpet with other celebs at the prestigious 2018 Met Gala.
In May, she opened up about her pregnancy again and revealed to Howard Stern that she is having a girl.
Later that month, social media problems continued to trouble her; she got into a nasty feud with fellow rapper Azalea Banks, and subsequently temporarily deleted her Instagram and made her Twitter private.
In mid-May, Offset was in a car accident and suffered minor injuries.
"Sooo grateful and happy today," Cardi tweeted. "God be giving messages in the weirdest way. I love you @OffsetYRN."
In June, the pair were overjoyed when their dog gave birth, making them "grandparents" to adorable puppies.
Later that month, Rolling Stone unveiled its July 2018 cover, which shows Offset kissing Cardi's bare baby bump, and she soon revealed that the two secretly got married last year. He had proposed to her onstage during a concert in October.
"I appreciate and love my husband so much for still wanting for me have that special moment that every girl dreams of when he got down on his knee and put a ring on my finger and he did that for me!!" she said, adding, "Well now since you lil nosey f--ks know at least ya can stop saying I had a baby out of wedlock."
They later celebrated their upcoming arrival at a baby shower with family and friends at an art gallery in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, Cardi B's music career throughout her pregnancy has been thriving; All her new singles—"MotorSport," "Bartier Cardi," "Be Careful" and "I Like It"—have reached the top 20 on the U.S. charts.
In April, she released her debut album, Invasion of Privacy, which hit No. 1 on the U.S. chart and also went platinum.