Nicki Minaj and her husband Kenneth Petty are being sued by Jennifer Hough, a woman who said she was raped by Petty in September 1994. The lawsuit claims that both Petty and Minaj have recently used intimidation tactics to keep Hough quiet about the past and to get her to cooperate with the couple.

Hough has lived a quiet life away from fame until Petty and Minaj got together publicly and his past got called into question. Petty and Minaj knew each other when they were younger, before the rapper became a household name. 

To clear her name and send a message, Hough appeared on The Real, her first public interview to address the case and her name being slandered across the media by Minaj and her fans. 

“I feel like the actions that were taken in regards to this whole situation put me in a different type of fear at my age, and it was wrong,” Hough said on The Real. “The only way not to be afraid is to continue to speak up.”

Hough went into some details about what she experienced with Petty in 1994, describing where they were that day (headed to school), how he approached her, forced her to a house as she pleaded to be let go and recalled him raping her. 

“I knew what he wanted,” Hough said. “He pushed me down on the bed, we wrestled for my clothes.” Hough also said that after Petty raped her, he stood in the mirror, pounding his chest saying “I’m the man, I’m the man.” 

Petty was convicted of attempted first-degree rape in April 1995, according to the New York State’s Sex Offender registry. He is facing jail for failing to register as one after moving into the new home he and Minaj share in California. 

The report shows that Petty used some sort of knife in the assault, and Hough told The Real she felt something in her back when Petty reportedly directed her to the house. 

Hough said that she spoke with Minaj once directly, and that the couple allegedly sent people to “negotiate money with family members” to help Minaj and Petty out of a “situation.” Hough alleges that one of the couple’s associates put $20,000 in her lap, and when she declined the offer, she was told that money would be used as a bounty on her head. 

Minaj was very vocal on defending her husband, whether it came to social media comments or her Queen Radio show. She denied that rape ever happened between Hough and Petty and that they were in a relationship. 

“It was like reliving it again because it was a lie,” Hough said. “It wasn’t true, we both were 16, we were never in a relationship. I just felt woman to woman that was wrong.”

In her lawsuit, Hough claims “has not worked since May of 2020 due to severe depression, paranoia, constant moving, harassment, and threats from the defendants and their associates.”