Nicki Minaj recently reflected on childhood trauma and how it might affect her parenting.
In a lengthy Q&A for Interview Magazine, the Pinkprint rapper spoke on motherhood alongside Jada-Pinkett Smith. Nicki welcomed her first son with her husband, Kenneth Petty, in 2020.
The conversation kicked off with Jada congratulating Nicki on becoming a mother. Then the conversation shifted to Nicki:
“I see myself as a baby in my son, and because of that, it reminds me of moments that I had probably forgotten over time, just of me being a toddler in Trinidad,” she said. “First of all, being a mother is the biggest freaking blessing on planet earth. I’m so happy that God allowed me to experience this.”
“I love my son so much that I don’t know if it’s normal, but it seems unhealthy because I took too long to start working and leaving him to be watched by anyone, so now I have this really bad separation anxiety. So that’s not good.”
Nicki then went into detail about having a child during a pandemic. She talked about being paranoid about her son’s health. She then mentioned that her son would be turning two soon and recalls being the same age when her family abandoned her.
“When I was two years old, my parents left me in Trinidad,” she said.
“Of course, I was very attached to my mother, and in my little toddler mind, I thought I was going to see her the next day. And she was gone for two years, so that’s a big part of my development.”
She continued:
“In fact, right before I came to the States, my mother had to come to Trinidad because I had to have an operation. And when I opened my eyes from the operation, I was maybe three years old going on four. I started crying because I didn’t know who this lady was,” she added.
In a panic, Nicki asked her cousin, a teenager at the time, to come into the hospital room, as she didn’t recognize her own mother.
“Because that’s who I had gotten attached to in the year-and-a-half prior, you know? So I’m reliving all of those things now because I’m afraid that my son will ever feel that I left him for anything, for any reason, and for any amount of time.”
Jada reassured Nicki that she had nothing to be afraid of and that it wasn’t normal to want to fiercely protect her son from the same trauma she experienced.
The Super Freaky Girl also used this opportunity to let her fans know she’d be releasing a new album before the year was out.
“I wasn’t sure how I was even feeling about having to put out an album this year, but that song happening and people liking it, that made me happy,” Nicki said, referring to her latest record-breaking single, “Super Freaky Girl.”
“People have gone through so much recently that they want to have fun. It’ll probably expedite the album to come out this year.”
