In a new exposé for Vogue magazine, Nicki Minaj claims she was once addicted to drugs she was prescribed for menstrual cramps.
The “Anaconda” singer said Percocet was prescribed to her while she was briefly living in Atlanta several years ago, but that she was not told it was a narcotic or addictive. Minaj said she began taking the pill even when she didn’t have menstrual pain.
“No one told me that this was a narcotic and this was addictive,” she said. “Luckily, I was able to ground myself. But — once an addict, always an addict. I feel like if you’ve ever experienced addiction to anything, which I have, you always have to think twice and three times about the choices that you make.”
“Look at some of our biggest celebrities,” Minaj continued. “They eventually either get laughed out of wanting to go outside anymore, like Michael Jackson, or criticized, like Whitney Houston, or they fight silent battles, like Prince. These are some of the greatest of all time. And one day they decided, ‘You know what? I’d rather self-medicate and be in my own world.’ ”
The 40-year-old also shared that she grew up in the 1980s with her father, who was also an addict due to smoking weed and crack. She said it affected how she viewed people who drank alcohol and partied with drugs, causing her to be careful about her alcohol consumption when at nightclubs and causing her to side-eye friends who smoked marijuana.
“I think about watching my father go back and forth, and I just wish that at the time I understood that he wasn’t doing it because he wanted to,” Minaj expressed. “I thought that he was making a conscious effort to be addicted to a drug that would have him steal his children’s video games and sell them for money. Think about that — who would make a conscious effort to do that?
She added, “Now I realize, those people weren’t making those choices because they wanted to hurt their family. Addiction took over their bodies and their lives. They were victims too.”
Robert Minaj eventually got clean and sober before he was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Long Island, New York, in 2021.
Some fans questioned his daughter being prescribed Percocet for cramps. “Baby they gave me naproxen… but I digress. Percs for cramps is news to me,” replied one. “Percs prescribed for cramps? Yeah ok,” added another. A third said, “She’s lying about not knowing it was a narcotic and addictive.”
However, one individual insists that Minaj was not lying, “They tried to prescribe me percs pregnant for a toothache. I believe it. They were giving out percs/oxy like candy.”
Although Minaj claims he was unaware of how addictive the drug was, she has rapped about it in several songs in her career. In the 2022 collaboration, “We Go Up,” with fellow New York artist Fivio Foreign, she raps, “Nah, that ain’t Reebok, We back on that Ewok, Percocets got a detox.”
In the second verse of her 2014 “The Pinkprint” track, “Wamables,” Minaj said, “I like percocets, I like to keep ’em hidden in my Birkin bag.”
They tried to prescribe me percs pregnant for a toothache. I believe it. They were giving out percs/oxy like candy
— Lalalouisa (@Bigbreaddmomma) November 9, 2023
Elsewhere in the interview, she discussed her upcoming album, “Pink Friday 2,” which was reportedly written from the perspective of someone who has reached many of their goals.
“When I look back at a lot of my music, I’m like, Oh, my God, where was the me in it? So for this album, I went back to the old game plan,” said Minaj.
The “Barbie World” singer also discussed motherhood, noting that parent life is hard but she and her husband, Kenny Petty, manage to raise their 3-year-old son, whom she affectionately calls “Papa Bear.” But she admitted there are moments of “anxiety” where things become “scarier.”
“Pink Friday 2” drops next month on Dec. 8.
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