Nicki MinajHer fans were not expecting it, but she found love. When she made her public debut with the rapper, it raised eyebrows. Kenneth “Zoo” PettyIn December 2018, he was a registered sexual offender.
The couple, who wed in October 2019, have not been affected by the backlash over their whirlwind romance. Minaj has defended Petty from critics on Instagram, where she continues to flaunt the pair’s journey to love with PDA-filled photos and videos.
The Queens native — who previously dated rappers Safaree Samuels, Meek Mill Nas — has long expressed her desire to settle down and start a family.
“If I’m done with my fifth album and I don’t have a child by then, no matter how much money I have, I would be disappointed, as a woman, because I feel like I was put here to be a mother,” she told ComplexDecember 2014. “I have definitely put off the wife thing because I don’t want people in my business. I’d rather not do anything that’s going to be on paper but I definitely will be married before I have my baby. I want to do it in the right order. I’ve always felt like that since I was young; my mother always put that in my head. I will be on baby No. 5 by the time I have finished the fifth album. 1, perhaps baby No. 2. And have $500 million.”
Minaj made it clear that she never relied upon a man. “As soon as I realized that I could actually live and breathe, and eat and sleep, and walk and talk without having a boyfriend, something clicked in me. The fact that I am a young woman who doesn’t need a man for money. I don’t need a man for the job,” she told ElleJuly 2018. “I’ve never had to f–k for beats. I’ve never had to f–k for a record deal. I don’t have those pressures. I get up when I want, shop when I want.”
Scroll down to see a timeline of Minaj and Petty’s relationship so far.