Cardi B has confirmed on Instagram Live that she had her butt injections reduced, directly addressing weeks of body speculation from fans and commentators. "News flash: I did get my a-- reduced," she told viewers, according to Billboard.

The rapper explained her reasoning plainly: "First thing first, I am a small girl," as reported by People. She said her frame could not carry the volume she once had, and that the decision to reduce was about proportion and comfort rather than outside pressure.

Cardi B told viewers she last went under the knife in January 2024 to have her butt reduced, Billboard reports. That procedure followed an earlier surgery in August 2022 to remove most of the biopolymers — a type of injectable filler — she had injected in 2018. She has since described the removal process as happening in multiple rounds to address fibrosis, a condition where scar tissue hardens around the injected material, per an Instagram post.

She also addressed why she cannot simply get liposuction on the area. Her skin is loose, she said, which is why her butt "shakes so much." Liposuction removes fat but does not tighten skin, so it would not solve the issue.

The path to this confirmation was not a straight line. In February 2025, Cardi B said she wanted to travel to Colombia to have her butt implants taken out after her Little Miss Drama Tour wrapped, Billboard reports. By March 2025, she appeared on the TODAY show and said she had changed her mind, telling viewers she felt comfortable where she was at with her body. In an Instagram Reel posted later, she said she had planned to "take a little bit of butt out" but did not have the time, per Instagram. By February 2026, she posted that the butt reduction discussion was "officially dead" and that she was standing on comfort and confidence, per Instagram.

Now, in her latest Instagram Live, she has confirmed the reduction was done and told critics to "stop hating." She attributed recent weight loss to a clean diet, the stress of touring, and going through a breakup from ex Stefon Diggs, Billboard reports. She said she likes her body how it looks and is comfortable in her skin.

The clarification comes during a busy stretch for the rapper. Her sophomore album, Am I the Drama?, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 — the chart that ranks the most-consumed albums in the US each week. The Little Miss Drama Tour, which ran from February to April 2025 across North America, grossed more than $70 million across 453,000 tickets sold. Cardi B is set to release a new single, "Ah Ha," on 31 July, Billboard reports.

Her latest statements close a chapter that has shifted repeatedly — from wanting surgery, to declining it, to declaring the topic settled, and now to confirming it was done months before the public conversation began.