1. "Life-Threatening Illness"
As a young child, Cardi battled serious health issues. "Cardi B has had really bad asthma basically her whole life," Shawn Setaro, Associate Editor at Complex, revealed. "When she was a kid, she was in and out of the hospital. Her mother used to worry that Cardi would catch an asthma attack in her sleep and die."
2. Too Poor to Eat
When Cardi was 18, she attended Borough of Manhattan Community College while working at Amish Market in Tribeca to make ends meet. "Work and classes were during the day and she often didn't have enough money to both take the train and eat, so she had to go hours and hours without eating," Setaro detailed.
As Cardi put it, "I was poor as hell. I was living with my ex-boyfriend that was beating my ass. I had to drop out of school."
3. Secret Stripping
At age 18, Cardi dropped out of school and got fired from her job, so she started working at New York Dolls Gentlemen's Club. "I used to cry after work. I could only imagine how embarrassed my parents would be," Cardi revealed. "I'm so ashamed of myself but then it's just like, 'I just made $500 today." Cardi original kept her job a secret and said she was baby-sitting lie. When her mom found out the truth, she was so mad she pushed her.
4. Dangerous Booty Enhancement
While working as a stripper Cardi recalled thinking, "Why is this girl making more money than me just because her ass is bigger?" She used $800 to pay for a dangerous off-market butt enhancement surgery. "I was desperate to have a bigger ass," she said. Despite hearing that several woman died from the dangerous procedure she remembered thinking, "'What are the odds is gonna be me?'"
5. Social Media Success
Cardi's growing Instagram and Twitter followers are to thank for getting her cast on the hit VH1 reality series Love & Hip Hop. "Cardi B came onto our radar via social media. When we saw her on tape she was just fantastic," Mona Scott-Young, Love & Hip Hop's Executive Producer, revealed. "Her personality just exploded on screen and she had all of these Cardi-isms that made her so unique that we just knew she was going to be a star."
6. Stage Fright
During Cardi's first live performance in 2016, things got off to a rocky start. "She starts performing it and everything's going great, and then she blanks," her former music producer and Worldstar COO Danny Cotton shared. "Doesn't remember the words, the track's going on, but she plays it as cool as a penguin, right? She just grabs some girls up, starts twerking...She just kept rolling, like a true entertainer. She didn't skip a beat."
7. When Cardi Met Offset
Cardi met future ex-husband Offset at the party for her first official release for "Foreva" in 2017. Shortly after, their first public date was at the Super Bowl. They would of course go on to get married, have daughter Kulture, then endure a series of cheating rumors and breakups.
8. Close Call With a Cheetah
While filming the music video for her mega-hit "Bodak Yellow," the rapper had a dangerous close call with a cheetah who lunged at her. "Fearless" Cardi kept shooting with the wild animal despite the scare.
9. Postpartum Depression
After giving birth to daughter Kulture, Cardi had a serious battle with postpartum depression. "Out of nowhere you just start feeling so vulnerable and sad and so overprotective and you just need a lot of love and hugs and you don't feel like you look the same," she recalled. She later pulled out of Bruno Mars' 2018 tour after feeling "extremely weak"
10. The Greatest Gift
In November 2018, Cardi was finally able to buy her mom her "dream home." "She always talked about wanting to buy her mother a home," Scott-Young shared. "That moment when she bought that home for her mom was something that she was incredibly proud of. It meant so much to her."
11. Trophy Collection
Where does Cardi keep all her Grammys, Billboard Awards and other trophies? "Every award is special to me. Every award goes to my mother's house," she revealed.