Nicki Minaj opens up about her turbulent childhood

LONDON - Nicki Minaj has opened up about her turbulent childhood, claiming that she feared that her father would kill her mother.

The 26-year-old rapper has recalled her father’s harrowing drug addiction in a new documentary.

“My father would yell and course a lot, we didn’t know but he fell victim to crack shortly after he moved to America,” the Daily Mail quoted Minaj, who broke records last year for having seven singles in the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time, as saying.

“You know when you’re on crack you can’t keep a job, and when you can’t keep a job you don’t have money,” she said, wiping away tears.

“My mother was the strength, she kept us together and made ends meet. She always kept her head held high even when she was really, really embarrassed,” she added.

Nicki, real name Onika Tanya Maraj, had revealed before that her father attempted to kill her mother during a drug-induced rage.

“When he set fire to the house, he was attempting to kill my mother,” she had told Details magazine then.

In the MTV documentary, Minaj recalls the early days before her stratospheric rise.

“I remember cutting my first song and thinking it’s never going to happen, it’s never gonna happen. Cut to twenty songs later and it’s like ‘Yes!’ Ha ha can’t wait!” she said.

And she hasn’t forgotten the reason behind her thirst for success.

“It’s not about money it’s not about the fame,’ said the singer.

“It’s about - I don’t have to worry if my little brother’s going to be able to get a new toy for Christmas. It’s those little tiny things that really make up the bigger picture. My happiness comes from seeing life without struggle,” she added. (ANI)