Nicki Minaj said she was “so selfish” before she became a mother.
The rap star has a 3-year-old son — who is known to the public only by his nickname “Papa Bear” — with husband Kenneth Petty. She explained when asked what she had “learned” since becoming a mother that in the years before the little one came along, there were so many things she could do without thinking about anyone else.
“Just seeing how much more you could love. Because my life was so selfish before he came here,” she said on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” “I could do anything I wanted when I wanted. I could take my phone out for days; I could sleep for days; I could travel whenever I wanted to. And since this little human came onto planet Earth, I can’t do anything without thinking about him first.”
However, the “Super Bass” hitmaker went on to add that motherhood has been worth the sacrifice because her son’s face is “worth more” than anything she could possibly buy. She joked she is thrilled to have “pushed him out” into the world.
“There’s this thing that happens every day when I see his face, which is more than anything money could buy in the world,” Minaj said. “And so, I’m really happy I pushed him out.”
The “Barbie World” singer recently admitted that she has no idea why she chose Papa Bear as a nickname in particular for her son because she had initially planned to nickname him Bubba when she was pregnant.
“I don’t know,” she told Vogue. “I’ve always been a nickname person. I give everyone I love these nicknames, normally. He actually had a couple nicknames. His first nickname while he was in my stomach was ‘Bubba.’ When he came out, it just transformed into ‘Papa Bear.’ I can’t explain it, but when I look[ed] at him that’s what I thought.”
