Kenneth Petty is Nicki Minaj‘s childhood sweetheart turned husband, but their relationship is far from perfect. Kenneth has been involved in numerous legal issues, including having to register as a sex offender over two decades after he was convicted of attempted rape, for which he served over four years in prison. As a matter of fact, Megan Thee Stallion apparently took a dig at Kenneth’s past in her track, “HISS,” with the lyric, “Megan’s Law,” which refers to a law that requires all U.S. states to have sex offender registries that the public can view.
“These hoes don’t be mad at Megan, these hoes mad at Megan’s Law,” Megan raps in one verse. “I don’t really know what the problem is, but I guarantee y’all don’t want me to start / Bitch, you a p***y, never finna check me.”
Despite Kenneth’s controversies, Nicki has stood by her husband — though she did open up about their marital issues and how they struggled after the birth of their son in her December 2023 cover story with Vogue.
“I’m not going to lie, things got testy between us,” Nicki said in the interview. “Because of our history, I think we knew we’d get past it. But there’s no such thing as confidence in parenthood.”
Keep reading to learn more about Kenneth and his relationship with Nicki below.
Kenneth and Nicki secretly married in October 2019, she revealed to shocked fans on Instagram. The Queen Radio host posted a cute video to Instagram showing off their wedding swag, including “Mr. & Mrs.” coffee mugs, and snapbacks that said “bride and groom.” Next to the table lay a pair of sky-high, glittery stilettos — presumably what the rapper wore when she said “I do” to her man. She simply captioned the October 21 post, “Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty 10•21•19” (her full, married name) and added bride and groom emojis, as well as prayer hands and tears.
Kenneth and Nicki are actually teenage sweethearts who started dating when Nicki was 16 years old. They fell head over heels for each other. Nicki has said in the past that Kenneth was even one of her “first loves.” Th two fell out of contact over the years, but rekindled their spark as adults. After the two picked up their marriage license in 2019, Nick tweeted about her love for Kenneth. “He won’t even say the word ‘Nicki.’ He has called me Onika since I was 15 so it’s hard to change that,” Nicki wrote. “I wouldn’t date anyone cuz I’m about to be married to my soulmate. But that was the problem, others r infatuated w/ Nicki Minaj he DGAF about this industry & is very protective.”
