Nicki Minaj’s new album The Pinkprint got personal when she addressed an abortion she had as a teenager. Now in a new interview with Rolling Stone, the “Anaconda” singer opens up about her choice.
“I thought I was going to die,” she said of getting pregnant as a high schooler. “I was a teenager. It was the hardest thing I’d ever gone through.” Ultimately she decided to get an abortion, a choice that “haunted me all my life.”
“It’d be contradictory if I said I wasn’t pro-choice,” she continued. “I wasn’t ready. I didn’t have anything to offer a child.”
Minaj first referenced her abortion on her early mixtape track “Autobiography,” but she says she didn’t expect anyone to listen to that song. Now that she’s a superstar, she knows her fans are listening. “My child with Aaron, would’ve have been sixteen, any minute,” she raps on “All Things Go,” which premiered earlier this month.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Donald Trump Is TIME's 2024 Person of the Year
- Why We Chose Trump as Person of the Year
- Is Intermittent Fasting Good or Bad for You?
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024
- The 20 Best Christmas TV Episodes
- Column: If Optimism Feels Ridiculous Now, Try Hope
- The Future of Climate Action Is Trade Policy
- Merle Bombardieri Is Helping People Make the Baby Decision
Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com