A Deep Dive Into Nicki Minaj And Kenneth Petty's Marriage Troubles
The following article includes allegations of sexual assault.
Nicki Minaj might have a thing for boys with a booming system, but it turns out she's all about Kenneth "Zoo" Petty, her teenage sweetheart turned husband. The two met when they were kids, rekindled as adults, and have been inseparable since, getting married in 2019. While that story sounds straight out of a Nicholas Sparks novel, their marriage is not all rainbows and butterflies.
To be fair to the "Beauty And A Beat" rapper, she's great at keeping her love life on the down low. When asked about the state of their marriage, she only had positive things to say. "I didn't think it would be as refreshing and calming as it is," she shared in a "Young Money Radio with Lil Wayne" episode. "Even if you're not married, when you have someone [who] feels like your soulmate or someone who understands you, it just makes you feel like you're on top of the world."
It seems that Petty knows who the "real" Minaj is and doesn't care about her superstardom. "He won't even say the word 'Nicki,'" the rapper once told a fan. "I wouldn't date anyone cuz I'm about to be married to my soulmate. But that was the problem, others r infatuated w/Nicki Minaj he DGAF about this industry & is very protective."
But despite Minaj's rose-tinted view of their marriage, the pair has faced problems that threatened the foundation of their supposed perfect relationship — including a run-in with the law that almost put the both of them behind bars.
Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty were embroiled in a legal case
Not many fans are privy to the fact that Kenneth Petty is a registered sex offender after having been convicted of first-degree attempted rape in 1995, per USA Today. He spent four years in prison. His journey through the legal system didn't end there, however, as he faced various charges over the years and served seven more years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter in 2006, via People.
Fast forward to 2021: Jennifer Hough, the woman who accused him of rape, sued both him and Nicki Minaj for allegedly "threatening" and "harassing her." Hough accused the couple of trying to silence and intimidate her, pushing her to backtrack on her allegations, and a slew of other charges, including inflicting emotional distress, harassment, and assault, per documents obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
Minaj was notably silent even after the lawsuit captured public attention, but in a court filing, she noted that her "failure to respond to the Complaint was the product of an innocent mistake" and claimed that the "entirely frivolous case" filed against her by Hough's lawyer Tyrone Blackburn was an "effort to use my name to generate publicity for himself," per Vulture. Months later, the charges against Minaj were dropped, but Petty remained a defendant, Blackburn told People.
Interestingly, Minaj has come to Petty's defense when fans brought up the fact that he's a sex offender. "He was 15, she was 16 ... in a relationship," she wrote on Instagram. "But go awf, Internet. Y'all can't run my life. Y'all can't even run y'all own life."
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Having a child put a strain on their relationship
Apart from being involved in a complex legal battle, Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty's marriage was challenged by parenthood. The couple welcomed a son in 2020, whose name they still choose to keep private to this day (though she has publicly shared his nickname "Papa Bear.") Unlike most celebrity parents, they had refused to enlist outside help throughout their child's early months, something Minaj said took a toll on their marriage.
"I'm not going to lie, things got testy between us," she told Vogue, noting that they were eventually able to sort things out. "Because of our history, I think we knew we'd get past it. But there's no such thing as confidence in parenthood. I kind of wish that someone had told me — although I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to understand it — that there's a level of anxiety, and you think it's going to go away, but in fact it gets scarier. So often you think: I don't know how to do this!"
Eventually, it appears that they were able to navigate the initial parenting challenges successfully, and now Minaj couldn't be happier tending to their son. "First of all, being a mother is the biggest freaking blessing on planet earth. I'm so happy that god allowed me to experience this," she told Jada Pinkett-Smith in an Interview Magazine feature. "I absolutely love it. I love my son so much that I don't know if it's normal."