Nicki Minaj announces she's pregnant with her first child

Rapper says she is ‘overflowing with excitement & gratitude’ after revealing news on Instagram

Nicki Minaj is pregnant with her first child.

The rapper posted three images on Instagram, one featuring the caption “#Preggers” and another reading: “Love. Marriage. Baby carriage. Overflowing with excitement & gratitude. Thank you all for the well wishes.”

The father is Kenneth Petty, who Minaj married in 2019. “I didn’t think it would be as refreshing and calming as it is,” Minaj has said of her marriage. “Even if you’re not married, when you have someone that feels like your soulmate or someone who understands you, it just makes you feel like you’re on top of the world.”

Petty was convicted of attempted rape in 1995, and earlier this year, he pleaded not guilty when charged with failing to register himself as a sex offender after moving to California from New York, with a trial date yet to be set. He served a seven-year sentence for a 2006 manslaughter conviction, stemming from a 2002 shooting.

Having never scored a No 1 hit in the US before, Minaj has topped the US charts twice this year, first in May with her remix to Doja Cat’s single Say So, and then in June with Trollz, her track with 6ix9ine. Her most recent album was Queen in 2018.