TORONTO — Rapper Nicki Minaj has revealed she remains “haunted” by her decision to have an abortion when she was a teenager.
“It was the hardest thing I’d ever gone through,” she admitted in an interview with Rolling Stone.
Minaj got pregnant during while a student at a performing arts school in New York.
“I thought I was going to die,” she recalled. “I was a teenager … I wasn’t ready. I didn’t have anything to offer a child.”
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It is the first time Minaj has spoken publicly about terminating the pregnancy, although she has made references to it in her music — on the 2008 track “Autobiography” and the new song “All Things Go.”
(In 2012, Minaj was asked by talk show host Ellen DeGeneres where she will be in five years. She replied: “Maybe I’ll be having a baby.”)
Minaj told Rolling Stone she wanted to open up to her fans on her new album, The Pinkprint.
“One of my goals was to give people a glimpse into my personal life, because it’s something I’ve kept very private,” she said.
“I struggled with ‘Do I express these feelings?’ And I decided there’s no reason for me to hide. I’m a vulnerable woman, and I’m proud of that.”
Minaj also said she takes seriously her position as a role model.
“I stand for girls wanting to be sexy and dance, but also having a strong sense of themselves,” she explained.
“If you got a big ol’ butt? Shake it! Who cares? That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be graduating from college.”
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