What did Nicki Minaj say about sobriety? Rapper opened up about "once an addict, always an addict" in 2023 Vogue 

Nicki Minaj, currently at the peak of her career and the rap world, has had her fair share of ups and downs. Sobriety is one of the things she struggled with growing up.

In November 2023, Nicki Minaj was featured on the cover of Vogue, where she opened up about being briefly hooked on Percocet during her time living in Atlanta. She had been prescribed the medication for her menstrual cramps, which proved highly effective in pain management. However, the 41-year-old soon realized she was taking them even without the pain. She shared:

"No one told me that this was a narcotic and this was addictive. Luckily I was able to ground myself. But—once an addict, always an addict. I feel like if you’ve ever experienced addiction to anything, which I have, you always have to think twice and three times about the choices that you make."

Since then, the Side to Side rapper has stayed away from substance abuse of all kinds.

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Nicki Minaj confessed she felt she was just like her father in her Vogue interview

In her cover issue interview published on November 9, 2023, Nicki Minaj discussed her efforts to maintain a safe distance from over-indulging in alcohol, be it at parties or otherwise. She stated:

"I feel like I will always consider myself to be just like my father."

Robert Maraj, who passed away in a hit-and-run accident in 2021, struggled with drug addiction while Minaj was growing up, and would often behave violently at home under its influence.

The Swalla rapper also admitted in the interview about not seeing her father as a victim growing up, adding:

"I thought that he was making a conscious effort to be addicted to a drug that would have him steal his children’s video games and sell them for money. Think about that - who would make a conscious effort to do that?"

The artist continued:

"Now I realize, those people weren’t making those choices because they wanted to hurt their family. Addiction took over their bodies and their lives. They were victims too."

Talking about the vulnerability to substance abuse, Nicki shared that she believed that celebrities - those who lived "under a microscope" - had a higher risk of it. She then used examples of the "biggest celebrities," like Michael Jackson, who was "laughed out of wanting to go outside anymore," Whitney Houston, who was criticized, and Prine, who fought "silent battles."

The Hey Mama rapper added:

"These are some of the greatest of all time. And one day they decided, 'You know what? I’d rather self-medicate and be in my own world.'"

The interview came before Nicki Minaj released her fifth studio album, Pink Friday 2, after a gap of five years since Queen.

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Minaj said her son's face made her soul light up

Towards the end of her interview, Nicki Minaj talked about acceptance and coming to terms with it, saying:

"You know that feeling when you unlock one of the secrets of life? For me the idea of accepting what you can’t change—it just never clicked with me before. You want to have control over everything, but that’s the easiest way to be unhappy. So now, if I find myself trying to control it all, I try to remember what’s really important."

On the subject of what's really important, the first name that popped up in the head of the new mama was her son, whom she lovingly calls "Papa Bear."

The Anaconda rapper shared how her son had started to make a strange sound in the past few months, which she recently discovered was actually an attempt to imitate her own laugh. She believed him to be the most precious of all her imitators.

Talking about her son, Minaj said:

"I look in my son’s face, and my whole soul lights up. He has no clue how nerve-racking it’s been for me to be a mother and an artist."

Nicki Minaj gave birth to his son in October 2020, a year after tying the knot with her childhood sweetheart, Kenneth Petty. Their son turned four earlier this month.