Cardi B talks motherhood, relationships and why she turned down performing at the Super Bowl halftime show

The rapper recently welcomed her first child, Kulture, with husband Offset.

February 4, 2019, 8:23 AM

Cardi B opened up about turning down a performance at this year's Super Bowl halftime show, relationships, and how she balances her career while still taking care of her 6-month-old daughter.

As the Grammy-nominated singer's career has exploded over the past year, the 26-year-old said she has no time to party anymore.

"I don't know, I did the parties when I was young," Cardi B told ABC News' T.J. Holmes. "You know, I'm 26 now. I work almost 24 hours. I'm a mom."

"Once I'm in there ... I'm in the party, like, I enjoy myself," she added. "But it's like I want go home."

PHOTO: Cardi B attends the Fanatics Super Bowl Party at College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Feb. 2, 2019.
Cardi B attends the Fanatics Super Bowl Party at College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Feb. 2, 2019.
Shareif Ziyadat/WireImage via Getty Images
You don't know nowadays who want you for you. Sometimes I feeling people want me for Cardi B.

Cardi B added that "life changed like that" after she welcomed her first baby, Kulture, with her husband, rapper Offset.

"It is hard, you know?" Cardi B said of balancing work and motherhood. "It's like certain things I just miss."

"But it's like I just think to myself ... her future's going to be so secure," she added. "Like, oh my gosh, she can have a Lambo when she's, like, 18."

"But right now, I got to be in my grind," she said. "I'm going to have more kids, so."

PHOTO: Meek Mill, Michael Rubin, Robert Kraft and Cardi B attend Fanatics Super Bowl Party in Atlanta, Feb. 2, 2019.
Meek Mill, Michael Rubin, Robert Kraft and Cardi B attend Fanatics Super Bowl Party in Atlanta, Feb. 2, 2019.
Shareif Ziyadat/WireImage via Getty Images

Although she said she hopes to expand her family soon, things are not slowing down with her skyrocketing music career.

PHOTO: Cardi B attends the Fanatics Super Bowl Party in Atlanta, Feb. 2, 2019.
Cardi B attends the Fanatics Super Bowl Party in Atlanta, Feb. 2, 2019.
Shareif Ziyadat/WireImage via Getty Images

Coming up, she has a high-profile performance scheduled for the Grammys, where she is also nominated for five awards.

The singer has admitted that her schedule has put a strain on her marriage, and in a video late last year, she shared that she and Offset had split and were getting a divorce.

PHOTO: This screen grab from video provided by PepsiCo shows an image from the company's 2019 Super Bowl NFL football spot featuring Cardi B. Star power abounds in this year's Super Bowl ads.
This screen grab from video provided by PepsiCo shows an image from the company's 2019 Super Bowl NFL football spot featuring Cardi B. Star power abounds in this year's Super Bowl ads.
PepsiCo via AP

Now, however, she says they are trying to work things out, something that is especially important to her now that they have a daughter together.

"I feel we're going to be all right," she said. "You know, got to take it slow."

Cardi B added that her own parents separated when she was 13, so she feels it is "important" to have "two parents ... at your household."

She said that a "whole lot of people was telling me like, 'Oh, you could date, you could find another man.'"

"And it's like, I can. I could find anybody I want," she added. "I just feel like, you know, it's really hard to date when you're famous."

"You don't know nowadays who want you for you," she said. "Sometimes I feeling people want me for Cardi B."

I see how minorities struggle and for somebody to stand up for us we got to support.

Why she turned down the Super Bowl halftime show

Even though Cardi B spent the week performing in Atlanta, she skipped out on a chance to take center stage during the Super Bowl's halftime show.

She told "GMA" that the only circumstance in which she would have performed at the halftime show this year was if "they hired my friend back," referring to former player Colin Kaepernick.

Kaepernick, who was previously a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, protested racial injustice in the U.S. by kneeling during the national anthem before football games. He has not been signed to an NFL team since 2017. Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL in October of 2018, alleging that NFL team owners colluded to keep him out of the league because of his protests. That case is still pending.

Cardi B added that she would have performed "If the guys take action on what's really going on. And understand like why was this so important and such a uproar. Understand why."

"It do mean a lot to me," she said. "He's standing up for minorities. And it’s like if we don’t support who stands up for us who’s going to support us? I grew up in different ethnicities of minorities so I, I sympathize with everybody you know."

The Bronx native said she comes from a "melting pot."

"I see how minorities struggle and for somebody to stand up for us we got to support," she said. "And they need to understand why he stand up for us. It’s crazy."