If people thought Cardi B's reign would end soon, they have another thing coming. The "Money" rapper is the March cover star for Harper's Bazaar and the photos are incredible. Cardi was involved in an altercation with Nicki Minaj at the Harper's Bazaar ICONS party in September 2018 and many thought that would be the end of her career, but now the new mamá is the star of the magazine's latest issue.
More from MamásLatinas: Cardi B's sexiest looks since giving birth
In the story published on Thursday, February 7, the rapper discusses everything from motherhood to her career and her relationship–and how she feels about her fairy-tale rise to the top. She also opened up for the first time about dealing with postpartum depression after welcoming her daughter, Kulture Kiari, in July 2018.
Cardi revealed she dealt with postpartum depression and still doesn't feel like her herself.
"It was too hard. I thought I was going to avoid it," Cardi told the magazine. "When I gave birth, the doctor told me about postpartum, and I was like, 'Well, I'm doing good right now, I don't think that's going to happen.' But out of nowhere, the world was heavy on my shoulders."
She continued: "For some reason, I still don't feel like my body's the same. I feel like I don't have my balance right yet. When it comes to heels, I'm not as good at walking anymore. I feel like I'm holding a weight on me. I don't know why because I'm skinnier than I've ever been. But there's an energy I haven't gotten back yet that I had before I was pregnant. It's just the weirdest thing."
The superstar also opened up about her marriage and her refusal to go to couple's therapy.
Cardi announced in December 2018 that she was separating from her husband of a year, Offset. She has since revealed they're trying to make things work, but when she first broke it off after his multiple rumored affairs, there was nothing that could change her mind. "I decided on my own. Nobody makes my decisions about my life but me," she said, adding that she opted out of going to therapy with him. "I didn't want to go to marriage counseling. He suggested it, but it's like, 'I don't want to go.' There's no counselor or nothing that could make me change my mind."
She added that her daughter gave her a new focus: "Before, I cared about everything–relationship, gossip. Now I don't feel like I have the time to please people. I don't care about anything anymore–just my career and my kid."
Cardi was careful about dating anyone new for the sake of Kulture.
"When it comes being around men, I don't feel like a lotta moms should be dating three, four different guys in a year. And I don't feel like your kids should see you with a whole lotta different men. Especially if you have a female daughter. Because I feel like there's a lot of psychopaths and you don't want them around your kids. Once you're a mom, you should be more mindful of how many men you bring in your life. I don't feel negative [towards men]. I just don't feel like I have the time right now," she said, adding that Offset was always in the picture. "My daughter loves her dad. She really, really does. I don't feel like I'm a single mom because that's her dad. I feel like a single mom is a person that don't have the dad around. He loves my kid. I don't feel single at all. Whatever Imma want, he's gonna give me, so I don't feel like a single mom."
The "Money" rapper already knows she's going to be a strict parent.
She gives her mom credit for making sure that she stayed out of trouble when she was a child, and plans to be just as strict with Kulture. "I just wanted more freedom and my mom wouldn't give me freedom. My mom is very strict. I am gonna be strict because you wanna know something? If you're not strict, you don't know what your child's doing out there," she said. "If my mom wasn't strict… there was parties that I wanted to go to [where] there were shootings. I wanted to sleep over my boyfriend's house. I probably woulda ended up pregnant, f–ked up. I probably woulda jumped outta high school. So you gotta be strict. My mom raised me on some like, 'I'm not your friend. I'm your mom.' So that's how I'm gonna be with my daughter. She most likely gonna hate it, but she gonna appreciate it when she's older. I totally appreciate my mom."
Although her life has changed since becoming a mom, she's not changing who she is.
"I just wanna be home all the time. I don't care about going out anymore. The things that I thought matter, it didn't really matter. I'm just so focused on my kid. I don't be sad for long because whenever I'm with my baby, it's like, 'Yeah, whatever. F*ck everybody,'" she said, adding that she is still going to be the same sexy Cardi. "I feel like when I'm half naked and when I twerk, people be like, 'You're a mom now,' and it's like, 'Well, I was doing it before I was a mom, so it's not like there's gonna be a difference.' One day, my daughter's gonna see my body and she's gonna see me twerking and it's like, 'Would it make a difference if I did it after or before her?' It's still out there. I feel like moms who do wanna feel sexy can be. I don't feel like once you become a mom, you supposed to be this nun."
