Cardi B Was ‘Attacked’ by a Cheetah While Filming the Video for Hit ‘Bodak Yellow’

While Cardi B‘s “Bodak Yellow” music video has been viewed over 456 million times on YouTube, the rapper almost paid a very high price for that success.

Director Picture Perfect discussed the behind-the-scenes moment during his recent interview with Genius, revealing that the two-time Grammy nominee had a scary moment and was nearly mauled by a cheetah while filming.

“We actually got this cheetah from a Sultan out there,” Picture Perfect recalled, explaining that the video was shot in Dubai. “I didn’t know how hard it was gonna be to get a cheetah out there.”

Adding, “We shot this scene we didn’t use, and he attacked Cardi in that scene.”

In the raw footage, the rapper can be seen standing a few feet away from the cheetah, holding him on a leash and rapping her verse. Then, the animal turns its head and hisses at her. “No no no, come hold him!” Cardi B tells the crew as she appears to be frightened.

But showing that fearless Cardi B attitude she is known for, the star and the director found a way to film cheetah scene for the final cut.

“We got her spirits back up … and this cheetah right here is not the other cheetah from the other scene,” Picture Perfect admitted. “This cheetah right here he’s eaten about six pounds of deer meat at this time, and he’s just calm,” he said.

Cardi B ended up even petting the exotic cat.

“I was nervous,” said Picture Perfect, who also put the breakout star on a camel while wearing a pair of red bottom heels.

“I put her on the camel and she just got scared up there,” he remembered. “She’s a trooper, man.”

Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” dropped in June and quickly became a mainstream hit.

The single helped her become the first solo female rapper to top the Hot 100 in nearly two decades, knocking off Taylor Swift from the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in September.

In January, she became the third artist and first rapper in history to place her first three Billboard Hot 100 entries in the chart’s Top 10 simultaneously, joining only the Beatles and Ashanti in achieving the accomplishment.