R&B Singer Ashanti has finally spoken out about her professional and personal relationship with music executive and producer Irv Gotti, breaking her silence on the Angie Martinez “IRL” podcast.
One of the most surprising statements was that she has “regrets” about “trusting people.”
“It’s crazy because you’re not supposed to have regrets. I used to say I don’t, but I do,” she confessed.
Ashanti said some of those regrets came from “having faith in people and sometimes trusting people,” the Grammy Award-winner shared, subliminally referencing Irv Gotti, the man responsible for Def Jam signing Jay-Z, DMX, Ja Rule and putting her on.
“I regret holding certain people to a certain standard,” the Princess of Murder Inc. said. “And just knowing that eventually I got let down really bad.”
Ashanti, once voted one of the top 25 Sexiest Women in Entertainment according to E! magazine, told Angie Martinez that she has grown and learned to be better so that she is not hurt that way again.
When the Hip-Hop radio vet asked Ashanti about Irv’s portrayal of her association with him and the brand and how she felt, Ashanti was candid and called Irv a “liar.”
She shared that for the documentary, the people involved “definitely reached out” to her. But she declined, revealing she only watched a little bit of two episodes (the first and the third).
She said, “For the record, I love Murder Inc.,” dispelling one myth Irv has said. Ashanti noted on the podcast that Irv’s comments were not “surprising” to her because she always knew he was like this, and now the world gets to see him.
“I feel like Irv is mentally not in a good place,” Ashanti said before making it clear that she is not ever trying to disrespect anybody.
She also said she sees that he is “hurt” in this process. According to Ashanti, the difference is that he is a “million percent” trying to ruin and hurt her.
The singer said she believes that Irv has finally realized that he can no longer “manipulate or control” her, and he just had to let go of all that he was once holding on to. She likened his release to vomit.
The chart-topper said, “It looks nasty. It smells nasty. And that’s the reflection of the person that you are.”
She continued saying, “When someone is in pain, they kind of act out of character. You know, and I see a lot of feminine qualities [in him].
When addressing their relationship, she said, “Irv definitely has his side and his version,” where he manifested this relationship into something big, and it really was not.
“Irv has flat out lied about a lot of things,” she declared. “The crazy thing is … when we were in a good space [we talked]. Pillow talk is a dangerous thing. There are so many things that I know and there’s so many things that for a long time and probably forever I don’t have the desire to expose.”
“I’m happy. I’m in a different space, and I feel like I operate at a very different vibration than him. I don’t play in the mud. I let that sit down there and I’m over here,” she explained.