Woman Who Accused Nicki Minaj’s Husband Of Rape Details How The Couple Harassed Her

Jennifer Hough, who is suing the "Starships" rapper and Kenneth Petty for witness intimidation, said she is "tired of being afraid."
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A New York woman who is suing Nicki Minaj and her husband, Kenneth Petty, for defamation and witness intimidation spoke about the allegations on camera for the first time this week.

In an emotional appearance on Wednesday’s episode of Fox talk show “The Real,” Jennifer Hough said she was “tired of being afraid” and hoped to assuage her fears by continuing to “speak up.”

“I feel like the actions that were taken in regards to this whole situation have put me in a different type of fear at my age now and it was wrong,” Hough said. “I don’t want to be afraid anymore.”

Hough accused Petty of raping her at knifepoint at home in Queens, New York, in 1994, when they were both 16. Petty subsequently pleaded guilty to attempted rape and served about four and a half years in prison, according to The New York Times. He was released in 1999.

Petty was arrested in March 2020 after failing to register as a sex offender in the state of California. In August, he accepted a plea deal, and earlier this month, pleaded guilty to the charges.

Watch part of Hough’s appearance on “The Real” here:

In her lawsuit, which she filed in August, Hough alleges that Minaj and Petty began pressuring her to retract her allegation shortly after Petty’s 2020 arrest. Hough is accusing the couple of witness intimidation, emotional distress, harassment, and assault and battery.

On Wednesday, Hough said she spoke directly to Minaj once in 2020, but has since been contacted repeatedly by people who she claims were sent by the rapper “to negotiate numbers, as far as money, is concerned.”

“The last incident was when one of their associates put $20,000 on my lap. And I still kept saying no,” Hough said. “The last message I received was that I should’ve taken the money, because they’re going to use that money to put on my head.”

A representative for Minaj did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

Hough said she wanted to let the couple “know that they were wrong, and you can’t do this to people. You shouldn’t do this to people.”

“What he did to me and my family wasn’t OK,” she added. “It wasn’t right, and it doesn’t matter how much money you have, it doesn’t matter what your status is. You can’t intimidate people to make things go better for you, and that’s what they did.”

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