Nicki Minaj and Kenneth ‘Zoo’ Petty: Relationship Timeline (2024)

Nicki Minaj found love where her fans least expected it. The rapper raised eyebrows when she went public withKenneth “Zoo” Petty, who is a registered sex offender, in December 2018.Since then, the couple have been unfazed by the backlash surrounding their whirlwind romance. They tied the knot in 2019 and welcomed their son, whose name has not been publicly revealed, in 2020. (Minaj often refers to her baby boy with the nickname “Papa Bear.”)Scroll down to see a timeline of Minaj and Petty’s relationship so far.

The Grammy nominee first showed off her beau on Instagram in December 2018, when she posted photos of them celebrating her 36th birthday. “Did you ever make it out of that town where nothing ever happens?… it’s no secret… that the both of us… are running out of time,” she captioned her post, using lyrics from Adele’s song “Hello.”

Minaj has brushed off social media users who criticized her romance and pointed out that Petty was convicted in 1995 of first-degree attempted rape and pleaded guilty in 2006 to first-degree manslaughter. (He has served several years in prison for his crimes.) “He was 15, she was 16 … in a relationship [in the rape case]. But go awf, Internet,” she wrote on Instagram in December 2018, the same day she posted a risqué photo in bed with Petty. “Y’all can’t run my life. Y’all can’t even run y’all own life. Thank you boo.”

Us Weekly confirmed in December 2018 that the couple have a long history. “Nicki and Kenneth dated when she was a teenager, before she was famous,” a source revealed. “They linked up when she handed out turkeys for Thanksgiving in her hometown.”

Minaj revealed in December 2018 that Petty got a large tattoo of her real first name, Onika, on his neck. “Did ya tat hurt zaddy? his first tat,” she captioned an Instagram video of the ink. “Frontin like it didn’t sting #Onika #HeavyOnIt #SuperSleezy.”

A source told Us exclusively in December 2018 that the lovebirds “have discussed” having children. “Nicki is absolutely head over heels in love with Kenny,” the insider said. “She fell hard and fast. She hasn’t smiled this much in a long time. … She really believes that he has changed since his troublesome days, but some of her friends are still a bit wary.”

Minaj uploaded a video of Petty kissing her feet in a hot tub on Instagram in January 2019. “Fendi PINK on. Chun-Li links on,” she captioned the clip, adding emojis of a tongue and foot.

The “Super Bass” singer revealed during a candid Q&A session with her Twitter followers in January 2019 that she and Petty have sex three to four times a night “on average” because “6 is a bit much sis.” She also confirmed that they have known “each other since we were very young kids in the hood … B4 the fame & fortune,” adding, “But anyway, timing is everything.”

Minaj and Petty celebrated a friend’s birthday together with rapper Young M.A in Hollywood in February 2019.

The former American Idol judge sparked marriage rumors when she called Petty her “husband” on her Beats 1 show, Queen Radio, in March 2019. “Every night when I get out of the shower, my husband takes this really good lotion that we just bought, and he massages my feet and rubs them, and he rubs each toe individually, and the heel and the ball of my foot, and he does it all,” she said. A source later toldUs that the lovebirds did not secretly wed.

Petty made an appearance in the explicit music video for Minaj’s single “Megatron,” in which she twerked for her shirtless beau in a hot tub.Hours after dropping the song in June 2019, the MC announced onQueen Radiothat she and Petty got their marriage license. She also shut down pregnancy rumors, but noted that having a child is her “end goal.”

Minaj shared three photos of herself cuddling with her beau on a couch via Instagram in June 2019.

The Barbershop: The Next Cut actress was a vision in red in a pair of Instagram photos with Petty in July 2019. “I remember when I cried like ‘why me?’ Now I wouldn’t Exchange my life for Armani,” she captioned the post.

The couple had to pick up a second marriage license in Beverly Hills in July 2019 after the first expired. “From that time, [we] have 90 days to get married,” Minaj later said on Queen Radio. She then changed her name on Twitter to“Mrs. Petty.”

Minaj announced on Instagram in October 2019 that she married Petty. “Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty 10•21•19,” she captioned a video of “Mr.” and “Mrs.” baseball caps and coffee mugs.

The “Yikes” rapper and her husband got into a heated argument with her ex Mill at the Los Angeles clothing store Maxfield in January 2020. The former couple later traded barbs on Twitter.

Minaj gushed over Petty on Queen Radio in February 2020, telling listeners, “Whenever I’m down, I can have one conversation with my husband and it will get me back where I need to be mentally. He’s been a really great force in my life. I’ve known him since I was 17, and I feel a level of comfort with him that I hadn’t felt before to just be myself and to share who I am.”

The couple attended the Marc Jacobs show during New York Fashion Week in February 2020. She shared a video via Instagram of them kissing while sitting front row.

Minaj announced in July 2020 that she is pregnant with the couple’s first child. “#Preggers,” she captioned an Instagram photo of herself cradling her bare baby bump.

The couple became parents in September 2020 when their son arrived.

The new mom and dad got all dressed up for a night out together in November 2020.

Petty pleaded guilty to failing to register as a sex offender when he moved to California in 2019 during a Zoom hearing with the Los Angeles Federal Court. Minaj’s husband was previously convicted of attempted rape in New York in 1995 and served approximately four and a half years in prison. As a condition of his conviction, he must register as a sex offender whenever he moves.

According to the prosecution, Petty could face a maximum 10-year sentence in federal prison, a lifetime of supervised release and a $250,000 fine or twice the gross loss resulting from the offense. If he receives the minimum sentence during his upcoming January 2021 hearing, however, he could face as little as a five-year period of supervised release and a $100 court assessment fee.

Petty was sentenced to one year of home confinement, three years of probation and a fine of $55,000 for failing to register as a sex offender.

During an interview with Vogue, Minaj spoke about the perks of marrying someone who she’s known since her teenage years. (The rapper and Petty both attended LaGuardia High School in New York City.)

“Because I’ve known my husband for so long, there’s an ease we have with each other,” she told the outlet. “We make each other laugh. We’re silly. And we’re always reminiscing about some old story. If it was a guy that I met as Nicki Minaj, I think I’d feel like they liked me because I’m Nicki Minaj, and what if I don’t look like Nicki Minaj every day? And that, combined with pregnancy, would probably have made me crazy.”

Minaj also admitted that welcoming a baby had tested her and Petty’s relationship.

“I’m not going to lie, things got testy between us,” she said. “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.”

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