Trinidad-born Nicki Minaj (real name Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty) hasn’t made an official statement but judging from video posted to her Instagram account, it appears she is now officially wed to Kenneth “Zoo” Petty, who she’s been dating for just under a year.
The 36-year-old rapper announced the news with a video showing a “Mrs.” and “Mr.” mug, a white “bride” and black “groom” baseball cap. In the caption, she wrote, ” Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty 10•21•19,” a date one has to assume indicates the day of their marriage.
The news is not very surprising given it follows on the heels of Minaj’s “Queen Radio” announcement in August 2019 that she had filed for a marriage license and planned to be married within two months.
As for timing on an actual wedding celebration, Minaj recently told The Shaderoom, “We’ll definitely do the paperwork portion of the marriage, but the actual wedding, I don’t know. You know when you’re a little girl and you want this big beautiful wedding, and I used to think I was one of those girls, I always wanted the fairytale. But then the things that used to matter to you don’t matter as much because I remember wanting those things with people, where real love wasn’t there. So now I feel like now that everything has finally lined up and matched up being that I’m madly in love with this man, he’s also my best friend, the things that used to matter to me before, don’t matter as much now. So yes, we’re going to have a big wedding eventually.”
Minaj first went public with the 41-year-old Petty with an Instagram post showing the two hugged up in December 2018. Push back on the relationship was immediate because of Petty’s criminal history, which includes convictions for a first-degree, attempted rape in 1995 and first-degree manslaughter in 2006, both of which he served time for.
Minaj subsequently revealed she dated Petty as a teenager and reunited with him at a Turkey give away held in Queens in November 2018. Prior to Petty, Minaj has had public relationships with Safaree Samuels and rappers Meek Mill and Nas.
As for whether or not children are on the horizon for the couple, Minaj stated in a 2015 interview with Complex that she hoped to have a child in between her fifth and the sixth albums. Minaj, who has thus far released four albums, explained in the interview, “After the fifth, I’ll probably have my baby. I wonder if I’m going to be one of those women who balances my child with a career.”
