Cardi B has been pretty open about the fact that she is not planning to stay single forever, and a new Vogue Arabia interview suggests she might already have someone in mind.
When asked if fans would be seeing more of Maduka Okoye, the 27-year-old Nigerian goalkeeper who caught her eye at Paris Couture Week, Cardi giggled and said, “I hope so.”
The two first turned heads at the Jean Paul Gaultier Fall/Winter 2026 Haute Couture show in late July, where Okoye was photographed taking Cardi’s hand to guide her to her seat.
A few weeks later, they were spotted having dinner together in Venice, which only added fuel to the speculation already burning across social media.
Cardi, 33, told Vogue Arabia journalist Manuel Arnaut that Okoye surprised her a little. “He was really sweet. When you see him on social media, he looks very strict, stern, but he is very kind,” she said, which reads less like a casual observation and more like someone who paid close attention.
The press attention around all of this has clearly gotten to her, though. In a since-expired Instagram Story, she compared herself to Britney Spears and pointed out what she sees as a double standard in how the media covers her personal life.
I’m really hip-hop’s Britney Spears,” she said, adding that she knows plenty of celebrity gossip that nobody bothers to report because, in her words, “nobody gives a fuck.” When it comes to her own life, she said, every move gets documented.
She also posted to her Instagram broadcast channel expressing frustration with what felt like constant surveillance. “No lie I feel like I’m being stalked, on some princess Diana shit, let me sit, let me breath, let me chill,” she wrote, making clear that the attention, even if partly self-generated by her own candid posts, has started to feel like too much.
Still, Cardi has been just as direct with her own fans about what she actually wants. During an X Spaces session, she pushed back on followers who had been suggesting she stay single and focus on herself.
“Bitch, I’m not going to be single for the rest of my life,” she said plainly. She pointed out that she had been completely single throughout her entire Little Miss Drama tour, not talking to anyone, not entertaining anyone.
She kept going, getting even more candid about her reasoning. “Even me and my friends, even when we have a ball, we need some entertainment. Life is cool. Life is everything. But it’s just like, all right, the pussy needs love too, okay?” It is hard to argue with the logic, and Cardi clearly has no interest in pretending otherwise.
Okoye, who plays goalkeeper for Udinese and the Nigerian national team, has not made any public statements about the situation.
The dinner in Venice and the fashion week moment are still the only confirmed data points, but Cardi’s “I hope so” is doing a lot of work on its own.
