“Super Freaky Girl” rapper Nicki Minaj is playing double duty at the 2022 MTV VMAs on Aug. 28. Not only is the Queens native co-hosting the Video Music Awards, but she’ll also receive the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award for her “outstanding contributions and profound impact on music video and pop culture.” If Minaj walks the red carpet with someone, she might bring her husband Kenneth “Zoo” Petty. Minaj, who has consistently defended her high school sweetheart in the press, became a mother when their first child was born during lockdown.
Here’s a closer look at the rapper and her husband’s relationship timeline.
Late 1990s: High School Sweethearts
Minaj and Petty, both Queens natives, attended high school at the prestigious LaGuardia High School in New York City, which specializes in creative arts. Minaj confirmed on Chance the Rapper’s song “Zanies and Fools” that she met Petty as a teenager: “I met my husband when I was 17 out in Queens / If you love it, let it go, now I know what that means / While he was up North for a body / I bodied everybody and got known for my body,” she raps on her verse.
Minaj actually started dating Petty when she was 16, according to TMZ, calling him “one of her first loves.” It was around this time that Petty first got into trouble when he was convicted of first-degree rape in 1995. Minaj has since defended him, saying that Petty was dating the victim and the charges were brought by the victim’s mother who didn’t approve of their relationship. Petty had to register as a level two sex offender in New York in response to the conviction. Later in 2006, he pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter and served seven years of a 10-year prison sentence.
2018-2019: They Rekindled Their Love
After their relationship as teens, Minaj and Petty lost touch for many years. In the intervening years, Minaj had a 14-year relationship with fellow rapper Safaree Samuels until 2014. Minaj also dated Meek Mill and Nas. In December 2018, Minaj debuted Petty on Instagram, posting photos in celebration of her 36th birthday. Channeling Adele’s hit song “Hello,” Minaj captioned the post “Did you ever make it out of that town where nothing ever happens?… it’s no secret… that the both of us… are running out of time.”
Another Instagram post a day later showed the couple intimately in bed.
Minaj captioned another post, “He want me to be his wife- his MISSIS like SIPPI NOW.”
In 2019, Minaj tweeted about their teenage relationship, saying Petty was with her “before the fame and fortune.”
“We were like this about each other since we were very young kids in the hood,” Minaj tweeted in 2019. “He was on my body b4 the big ol’ ghetto booty. B4 the fame & fortune. Fought my bf cuz I wouldn’t be his girl. He was always a lil brazy. But anyway, timing is everything.”
Minaj’s fans have vocalized their discomfort with Petty’s past, but Minaj has been quick to clap back. On Instagram in 2018, Minaj responded to concerns about his rape conviction by saying, “He was 15, she was 16 … in a relationship. But go awf Internet. Y’all can’t run my life. Y’all can’t even run y’all own life. Thank you boo.” On an episode of her Queen Radio podcast, she doubled down on her then-boyfriend and zeroed in on his loyalty. “When a person is with a n— that loved them before they had a dime in their pocket? How do you not understand that? How do you not understand happiness vs clout?” she reportedly said.
October 2019: The Couple Married
In June 2018, Minaj revealed that the couple had obtained their marriage license. “I think I have what I was striving for, just happiness. It was so hard to get to a happy place. Now that I’m there, I don’t want to compromise that for anyone or anything,” she said on her Apple Beats 1 show, after previously referring to Petty as her husband in March of that year.
On Oct. 21, 2019, Minaj confirmed their marriage via an Instagram post that featured her full legal name. “Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty 10-21-19,” the caption read with a video of some wedding swag.
The specific details of their wedding day have been kept under wraps and a source close to Minaj told People that Minaj “wanted to keep her wedding low-key.” She later opened up to Lil Wayne on his Apple Music show Young Money Radio with Lil Wayne about her happiness. “I didn’t think it would be as refreshing and calming as it is,” she said. “Even if you're not married, when you have someone that feels like your soulmate or someone who understands you, it just makes you feel like you’re on top of the world.”
But despite her marital bliss, Minaj has repeatedly found herself defending the relationship. Talk show host Wendy Williams waded into the waters when she commented on Petty’s criminal past in November 2019. “Now, he served seven years in prison and he’s also a sex offender,” Williams said on the show. “So that means that he — is a manslaughter a killer? Okay, so he’s a killer and a sex offender. Well, Nicki, congratulations.”
Minaj quickly clapped back on her Queen Radio podcast saying, “Every time you mention him you feel the need to bring these things up. I didn’t know that in our society, you have to be plagued by your past. I didn’t know that people can’t turn over a new leaf. I didn’t know that your viciousness and evilness was this deep-rooted, this deep-seeded.”
2020: They Become Parents
In July 2020, Minaj announced her pregnancy with an Instagram post simply captioned, “#Preggers” accompanied with a photo cradling her baby bump. Another post said, “Love. Marriage. Baby carriage. Overflowing with excitement and gratitude. Thank you all for the well wishes.”
The baby boy was born on Sept. 30, 2020, and Minaj tweeted about the moment she realized she was going into labor. “I was butt naked. Just got out the shower & I asked him to rub my back. As soon as I started scooting over to him in the bed I just felt the water start coming out,” she said of the moment with Petty. “He was very scared & I was laughing @ him.”
2021: They Celebrate The Baby’s Birthday
Minaj has not revealed the baby’s name yet. In captions, she often refers to him as “Papa Bear,” though that is just a nickname. In 2021, she said she considered the name “Ninja” and is still not entirely convinced about his given name. “You know what his name was supposed to be? I think l might still change it,” she said.
At the end of 2021, the family posed for a holiday portrait.
2022: The Family Love Continues
In 2022, after moving to California with Minaj, Petty was sentenced to three years probation after failing to register as a sex offender in the state. Minaj has continued to stick by his side, showcasing her family throughout 2022, starting with this March post.
In July 2022, Minaj uploaded more family photos.
It’s unclear whether Petty will accompany Minaj to the 2022 MTV VMAs.
