Cardi B and Offset have been married for three years, and one of the essential factors in their marriage is maintaining financial security. 

In a recent interview with Essence for their cover story, Cardi revealed that she allowed the 30-year-old rapper to look over her finances earlier in her career.

“From the beginning, I remember he used to ask to see my contracts, and I would be like, ‘Boy, I don’t know you like that,'” Cardi said. “But when I started letting him in on more things, I started seeing things differently. People have cut me short a lot, and ever since I have involved him in my business, I’ve been doing so much better. Sometimes people will make you feel you deserve less than what you’re worth.”

Since new artists are often taken advantage of in the industry, Offset said the 29-year-old’s experience is something he has faced a couple of times in his career. However, his primary focus is making sure his family is financially secured. “I just want to make sure the family’s straight. We have children together. We have family behind us. They’re depending on us. The industry it’s a little slick. You’ve got to have your eyes open—and I’ve been in it a little longer, so I know how things can be. I just want to make sure the business is correct.”

Cardi (Belcalis Almánzar) and Offset (Kiari Cephus) shared their love story dating back to their first meeting in January of 2017. The Georgia native first took an interest in the “UP” artist by sliding into the DM’s of one of her close friends to let her know that he was interested in the upcoming rapper. Then, he invited her to a “Bad and Boujee” dinner he was hosting to celebrate his rap group song’s success on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. 

“When my friend told me that he was trying to holler at me, I was like, ‘I’m not trying to deal with no industry rappers, because I already know what type of time they’re on,” Cardi disclosed. “I was scared. I’m a relationship girl.”

While she accepted his invitation, the Bronx native remained hesitant about going on a first date to Super Bowl LI with Offset. She was months away from releasing her top-charting debut single, “Bodak Yellow,” and wanted to protect her heart and image. Cardi expressed her concerns with her friend Offset had messaged and shared it with him. 

“I said, ‘I don’t want to be seen in public with a rapper if he’s not serious about me,’” Cardi explains. “It would be embarrassing to go on a date with a guy, and my career is just starting off, and then the next day he’s not into me anymore. I would’ve been crushed.”

Several months later, Cardi made the relationship official, and the two wed in the bedroom of the “Red Room” artist’s Atlanta home in what appeared to be a dare. “We were making out and he was like, ‘You’re going to have my baby one day,’ and I was like, ‘We ain’t having no baby. You have to marry me,’ and he was like, ‘Alright, let’s get married,’” Cardi recalled.

In April 2018, Cardi revealed that she and Offset were expecting their first child together during a Saturday Night Live performance. She explained how nervous she was to be pregnant at the peak of her career. 

“I was really nervous because everybody around me was nervous,” she said. “People who work in the industry said that nothing like this had really happened before, when somebody was at the height of their career and they got pregnant.”

Kulture was born in July 2018, and the couple shared how they went through difficult times since their daughter was born. They ultimately decided to keep the almost four-year-kid’s Instagram page private after facing excessive internet bullying on social media.

“We went through a lot of sad things when it comes to Kulture—terrible behavior that not even the older kids have ever been through,” Cardi revealed. “So many people will post mean, disgusting things, just to get a reaction from us.” It was for that reason the couple waited to show Wave to the world. Cardi admitted: “We want to protect our feelings, because we get very, very angry and upset.”

Cardi and Offset have learned to balance work responsibilities with a new addition to the family, their 7-month-old son Wave born on September 4, 2021. While the couple shares two children together, Offset has three children from previous relationships: daughter Kalea, 7, and sons Jordan, 12, and Kody, also 7.

“It’s a blessing to be able to have them all together and to have a wife who’s open and treats them as if they’re her kids,” he said. “It could be an issue, but I don’t have to go through that, and that’s beautiful.”

The love they share for each other and their family is one of the factors that sustained their marriage. “We just became closer,” Cardi says of how they’ve weathered storms over the past five years. “We understand each other more now. To me, it’s serious, locked in for life—partnership sh-t, best friend sh-t. Sometimes it’s like, okay, he’s my husband, but he’s really my best friend. We pick each other up when we’re down. I feel like nobody has my back like him—and he knows I got his back all the way, no matter what, and nothing could come in between that.”