Nicki Minaj Is ‘Preggers,’ Expecting First Child with Husband Kenneth Petty

Nicki Minaj Is Pregnant With Her First Child

The rapper and her husband, Kenneth “Zoo” Petty, are expecting their first child together, she shared on Instagram Monday alongside a set of glam snapshots of her baring her baby bump.

In two of the photos, the mom-to-be is rocking a curly, bright-yellow hairdo, an intricately decorated bikini and sparkly platform stilettos. Another shows her in a ruffled bottom, white knee-high stockings and a blue done-up hairstyle, complete with a bright-green bow.

“#Preggers 💛,” she captioned the first image of her cradling her belly, writing to accompany the third (which showed Minaj lounging on a pink couch), “Love. Marriage. Baby carriage. Overflowing with excitement & gratitude. Thank you all for the well wishes. 💛”

The happy news comes nine months after she and Petty tied the knot and 10 months after Minaj, 37, announced her intention to retire to instead focus on her family. “I’ve decided to retire & have my family. I know you guys are happy now. To my fans, keep reppin me, do it til da death of me … Love you for LIFE,” she wrote on Twitter.

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While the future of Minaj’s music career appears to be up in the air aside from her most recent single “Yikes,” the Queens, New York, native had hinted at a new album — as well as changes in her personal life — over the past months. In June 2019, Minaj said on “Queen Radio” that she and Petty had acquired a marriage license.

“We did get our marriage license,” the “Super Bass” rapper said during her show on Apple Music’s Beats 1 Radio. “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.”

Then in July of that year, Minaj (birth name: Onika Maraj) appeared to confirm she was engaged — and expecting — in her Chance the Rapper collaboration “Zanies and Fools.” As she rapped on the track, “He the Clyde to my Bonnie, ’bout to walk down the aisle and be a mommy” and “I met my husband when I was 17 out in Queens.”

And in August, the hip-hop star changed her Twitter display name from “Ms. Minaj” to “Mrs. Petty” just days after revealing she and Petty had renewed their marriage license.

At the time, Minaj explained that she and Petty “filed for the marriage license and we still had to pick it up and I was traveling, by the time I came back, we had to renew it again … From that time, you have 90 days to get married. That was about a week ago, so now I have about 80 days.”

“I have to work on my album, and I have a lot to focus on that I don’t want to do the big wedding now. We’ll do the big wedding later,” the rapper said. “I’ll be married before my album comes out, but will have my wedding after the album comes out. Before the 90 days is over, yes, I will be married.”

Minaj revealed the exciting news that the two had wed in late October with a video on Instagram, showing matching “Mr. and Mrs.” mugs and black and white baseball caps with “Bride” and “Groom” written across the front.

Keeping it simple, she captioned the short clip, “👰🏽🤵🏽😢🙏🏽🎀 Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty 10•21•19” — referencing her new official name and seemingly the day that she and Petty officially tied the knot.

What fans say over Nicki Minaj pregnancy

Fans have been speculating for months whether or not Minaj has been pregnant when she tweeted about her food cravings after being asked what she’s cooking during quarantine, and alluded to symptoms of morning sickness. She also posted a video of her husband, Kenneth Petty, rubbing her stomach back in February.

“Absolutely. Steak. Shrimp. Plus my famous cheeseburgers. So good. Been rlly having red meat cravings then salad cravings with extra jalapeños. Ordered Chkn nachos that didn’t come w/jalapeños. Who does that? Wow.”

Here’s the video from February:

In 2018, Minaj told Wonderland how much she wanted to have kids. “I’ve got to get married first then I’ll have a child. I might be closer than people think actually,” she said. “I love children. I’m not going to put that off for much longer.”

Minaj and Petty have been married since October 2019. She recently described their marriage as “refreshing and calming.” Congrats to the couple!