In an excerpt from a forthcoming interview with Rolling Stone to discuss her new album The Pinkprint, Nicki Minaj told the magazine an abortion she underwent as a teenager “haunted me all my life.”
Minaj told Rolling Stone she thought she “was going to die” when she found out she was pregnant while attending the prestigious LaGuardia performing arts high school in New York.
“I was a teenager,” Minaj said. “It was the hardest thing I’d ever gone through.”
“It’d be contradictory if I said I wasn’t pro-choice,” Minaj added, saying the decision to have an abortion was the right one to make at the time. “I wasn’t ready. I didn’t have anything to offer a child.”
According to Rolling Stone, Minaj admitted to having the abortion on a mix tape track called “Autobiography,” which she expected would be released under the radar. Now that she’s famous, “millions of people are gonna hear it. And you gotta watch everything you say — people find an issue with every f***ing thing.”
Minaj told the magazine that with her new album, which dropped December 15 to wide critical praise, the rapper wanted to show fans a side of herself they haven’t yet seen.
“One of my goals was to give people a glimpse into my personal life, because it’s something I’ve kept very private,” Minaj said.
Still, the rapper maintained that her core mission of inspiring young girls remains intact.
“With a video like ‘Anaconda,’ I’m a grown-ass f***ing woman!” Minaj told the magazine. “I stand for girls wanting to be sexy and dance, but also having a strong sense of themselves. If you got a big ol’ butt? Shake it! Who cares? That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be graduating from college.”
The latest Rolling Stone issue with Minaj on the cover comes out January 2. Read more excerpts from the interview here.