Singer Ashanti has opened up about her involvement with music producer Irv Gotti, detailing years of alleged manipulation and emotional abuse.
In an interview with Angie Martinez on her podcast, IRL, Ashanti—whose full name is Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas—reacted to recent comments Gotti made, in which he claimed that they had been in a relationship in the early 2000s. In August, the Murder Inc. Records founder and producer was a guest on the Drink Champs podcast, where he initially talked about about a sexual relationship he allegedly had with the singer when he was still married.
Gotti was also under fire after he detailed kissing Ashanti in an episode of his recent TV series documentary Murder Inc., with many online slamming him for his treatment of the singer.
When asked about their alleged relationship, Ashanti said on Wednesday on the podcast, "Let's clear this up. We dealt with each other, but was Irv my boyfriend? Was I his girlfriend? Never. Irv had several girlfriends, so I'm a little confused by the label and the description."
Ashanti's Accusations
When first asked about Gotti's claims, Ashanti said, "It wasn't surprising to me. Irv has flat-out lied about a lot of things."
After signing onto Gotti's record label in the early 2000s, she released the hit song "Happy," in 2002; in August, Gotti claimed that around that time, they began to have a relationship.
While Ashanti said Gotti had made an impact on her career, she denied being in a relationship with him and said that she was bewildered by his insistence that they had been together, saying he had turned their relationship "into something big, and it's really not that."
"It's weird. It's very weird when you know you're lying and you just keep lying. That's where it becomes a little scary and a little mental," she told Martinez. Regarding the claim that they had slept together, Ashanti said, "I'm trying to figure out what made him even say that. Was I there? I'm confused. I don't remember this at all."
She then claimed Gotti was a "narcissist" and that he regularly degraded her and told her that he was responsible for her success.
"Irv would not let me come to the studio to record. Irv was telling everyone not to record with me," she said. "You know what he said to me? He said, 'Nah, you want to be with Nelly? Go sign to Derrty Entertainment. We don't want you.'"
Gotti previously acknowledged that he had some hurt feelings when Ashanti began dating artist Nelly around 2003. The pair dated for nearly a decade.
Ashanti said that she felt constant pressure from Gotti, saying, "If I say [no]...does that mean we're not going to record?"
"I definitely feel like manipulation played a heavy part into me and Irv's situation," Ashanti said.
"I definitely had a genuine love for Irv because he 100 percent helped to change my life," she said. "I feel like Irv is just hurt, and he doesn't know where to place his hurt, and he doesn't know how to channel it as a man. It's sad," she said after being asked why she thought Gotti had told people about a relationship.
Newsweek reached out to representatives for Ashanti and Gotti for additional comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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