Bhad Bhabie is about to be a mother, how ’bout that? In a Wednesday (Feb. 28) interview with People, the 20-year-old rapper had a strong message for fans who think she’s too young or inexperienced to have a baby: She’s got this.
“I even see people saying, ‘Oh, I don’t think she’s ready. I don’t think she’s ready,’” Bhabie, who was born Danielle Bregoli, told the publication. “It’s like, ‘How can you, from your computer screen, determine if I’m ready to be a mother or not?’”
“I don’t even be on [social media], so how can you determine that?” she added. “You know? It’s just kind of off.”
Bregoli first announced her pregnancy to followers in December. Since then, the “Gucci Flip Flops” artist has confirmed she’s expecting a daughter — whom she plans to name Kali Rose — and that the baby’s father is her boyfriend Le Vaughn.
She attributes much of the public’s apprehension over her becoming a mother to the moment she became famous — when she yelled, “Catch me outside, how ’bout that?” in a viral clip from her 2016 appearance on Dr. Phil. Bregoli said that she feels the brash moment clouds people’s perceptions of her, even seven years later.
“People who are nurses and doctors and therapists and lawyers,” she told People, “Do you think if people went back and looked at them when they were 13 and 14 and judged them off that time that they would have that job and be held so high? They’re kids, they’re teenagers. But mine happened to be broadcasted all over the Internet, all over public television.”
The Florida native added: “I wish more people knew my story and really understood the things that made me who I am, and that they wouldn’t just look at a certain time of my life and expect me to be that person forever, especially when I was so young.”
Since her fated Dr. Phil episode, Bregoli has carved out a successful music career under the name Bhad Bhabie. She reached her Billboard Hot 100 peak in 2017 with “Hi Bich,” which made it to No. 68 on the chart.
However, she hasn’t released a song since 2022’s “Vibe Check” with Olivia Lunny — which, she confessed to People, may be her last musical project ever. “I don’t think that’s my party,” she said of stepping away from the music industry.
“I was never really the type of person to sit and think about, ‘Oh, where will I be in five years?’” Bregoli added. “Really, if I wanted to, I could retire right now and be a mom and never come out the house. But I know that I still have more in me, and I feel like I have more to do. I’m still in the middle of figuring out what that is exactly, but I want to make sure whatever I do this time is definitely something that I’m really into and passionate about.”
