Cardi B Leaned on Shakira for Breakup Advice

Cardi B is not afraid to admit she needed a little help handling heartbreak. And when you are one of the world’s most recognizable rap stars, why not call another global icon for advice?

On the Monday, Oct. 6 episode of On Purpose with Jay Shetty, Cardi opened up about her split from Offset, her husband of seven years. She explained how the healing process was not just about words or actions, but about letting her heart finally catch up.

“It took months for the heart to say, ‘You’re done,’ instead of my mouth and my brain,” Cardi said. “Because you could say it and you could take actions but even if you take actions, if you’re not done you’re not done.”

Despite the pain, Cardi explained that she feels stronger than ever, comparing her present self to her early twenties.

“I felt my strongest when I was 22, 23, 24,” Cardi, born Belcalis Almánzar, reflected. “That’s when I felt like my strongest. And I was like, living in a power. And that’s how I feel right now. Like I feel like I live in a power.”

That strength, though, did not come overnight. She admitted it took crying, self reflection, and even what she described as “scary thoughts” before she could feel whole again.

Cardi recounted how, while working with Shakira in 2023 on their track Puntería, she asked the Colombian superstar how she overcame her own split from longtime partner Gerard Piqué. Both women had dealt with public breakups and alleged infidelity.

“I was like, ‘How the f--- did you overcame this?’ And [she’s] like, ‘It’s going to happen,’” Cardi shared. “And [I’m] like, ‘It will never happen’ and it happened. It took some crying. It took some thoughts, scary thoughts. But I’m here, honey, I’m here and I’m the strongest I’ve been.”

Beyond her own healing, Cardi also revealed her hopes for her children’s futures. She shares daughter Kulture, 7, son Wave, 4, and daughter Blossom, 13 months, with Offset. She is also currently pregnant with her fourth child, her first with New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs.

“It’s discipline. It’s gotta be in you, and you have to be better than me. I want you to be better than me,” she explained. “There’s things that I cannot do that I want my kids to do.”

She added, “I want you to be smarter than me. I want you to be — not perfect because you cannot make your kids perfect and you don’t want you to put pressure on your kids [to be] perfect — but I want you to be a 100 times better version than me.”

Cardi emphasized that even if her children get frustrated, they will one day appreciate the lessons. “You’re gonna be mad and you’re gonna be crying, but you’re gonna appreciate that one day because I wish the things that I put on my kids that somebody put in me when I was younger.”