Ashanti has opened up about her relationship with Irv Gotti in the wake of her former label boss’ untimely passing.

On a new episode of Angie Martinez’s IRL podcast published on Friday (February 28), the veteran radio host acknowledged how classy Ashanti’s heartfelt tribute to Irv on social media was, despite the fact their relationship had been in a rocky place for years.

The singer admitted she wished things could have ended differently.

“It was a lot to process. It was a lot of different feelings and emotions, and I think honestly what I said [in my tribute post] is really how I feel,” Ashanti said. “I was really sad and I’m still sad that it ended like this, because there was a time where things were just amazing. And I know my heart always just wanted peace for both of us and for us to be cordial. I wished peace for him. I prayed for him to be at peace and you just don’t really see this – it really just came out of nowhere.”

She continued: “I really wanted to [be able to make peace with him before he passed] because like I said, we made history together. That is infinite. Like, talking about my son – my son is gonna know that we made these records together! I’m sad that the last few years we weren’t seeing eye to eye. What I do know is that I tried. I do know that I extended the olive branch. I just want things to be cool.”

Irv produced some of Ashanti’s biggest hits, and led the label during her 2000s stardom. In recent years, Ashanti looked back at that time (usually in response to public comments from Gotti), and accused the executive of “manipulation” during her early career.

Back in 2022, Ashanti opened up about her relationship with Gotti, claiming her former Murder Inc. boss told numerous lies about what he said was their romance.

In a separate interview with Angie Martinez on IRL that October, the “Foolish” singer shared her side of the story, setting the record straight on her and Gotti’s relationship.

“Let’s clear this up,” she said around the 34-minute mark. “We’re not gonna say relationship. We dealt with each other, but was Irv my boyfriend? Was I his girlfriend? Never … Irv had several girlfriends, so I’m a little confused by the label and the description.”

Elsewhere, Ashanti accused Irv Gotti of “flat-out” lying about the nature of their relationship and suggested he misconstrued their bond, which produced a number of hit singles and albums during Murder Inc.’s heyday in the early 2000s.

Although she didn’t flat-out deny that there was romance between them, Ashanti believes that Irv Gotti “manipulated” her at a time when she was young and naïve.

The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Gotti’s death on February 5 at the age of 54, not long after reports broke that he had suffered a second stroke, following one last year.

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