Nicki Minaj has a baby on the way! The rapper, 37, revealed the exciting news in a stunning Instagram post on July 19, simply writing, “#Preggers” and adding a yellow heart emoji. Nicki appears to be far along in her pregnancy already. She showed off a huge baby bump in her breathtaking photo, which was part of a larger photoshoot — you can see all of the gorgeous photos below! Nicki is dressed in an outfit typical for the rapper: a multi-colored floral bikini and gigantic, sky-high lucite heels decorated with fringe.
Nicki also took part in a photoshoot from famed photographer David LaChapelle. The ethereal image echoed Beyonce’s famous pregnancy announcement photo, showing Nicki looking like a goddess in a forest, her head covered with a veil. Fans believed that Nicki might be pregnant after she said during a May 7 Twitter Q&A that she was nauseous and “peeing non stop.” She even teased that she would be releasing a baby bump pic in “a couple months” — which she did. She tends to joke with her fans a lot, so people didn’t take this too seriously. But here it is! And a week later, she posted a gorgeous, makeup free pic on Twitter. Fans thought they definitely spotted a bun in the oven. She deleted the pic soon after.
Though Nicki did not mention the father of her child on the post, she’s married to Kenneth “Zoo” Petty. Nicki went public about her romance with Kenneth in December 2018. She shared a PDA photo of the two in celebration of her 36th birthday. When she first revealed her romance to the world, Nicki received immediate backlash from critics, who discovered that Kenneth is a registered sex offender. But, Nicki wasn’t phased. Instead, she continued to share more PDA photos and videos of the couple.
It was eventually revealed that Nicki and Kenneth have major history together — they knew each other when they were just teenagers, and rekindled their relationship while Nicki was home in Queens, NY during Thanksgiving 2018. After less than one year together, Nicki and Kenneth tied the knot in October 2019. They had a super small wedding, and Nicki explained that they would have a bigger ceremony down the road. Meanwhile, this marks the first child for Nicki, who’s previously opened up about wanting to start a family when the time is right.
“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,” Nicki told Complex in December 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 make sure I do it in that order,” she continued. “I’ve always felt like that since I was young; my mother always put that in my head. By the fifth album, I will have walked down the aisle and I will at least be on baby No. 1, possibly baby No. 2. And have $500 million.”
Just to provide a little context — Nicki currently has four studio albums out, with her latest being 2018’s Queen. So, the rapper wasn’t too far off with her life goals. Nicki’s previously dated rappers Safaree Samuels and Meek Mill.