Nicki Minaj graces the cover of the December issue of Vogue Magazine.
During the interview with Vogue, Minaj opens up about how she overcame an addiction to medication she was prescribed for menstrual cramps. She expresses, “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.”
Minaj also reflected on how her situation was similar to other high profile celebrities who battled with addiction. “Look at some of our biggest celebrities. They eventually either get laughed out of wanting to go outside anymore, like Michael Jackson, or criticized, like Whitney Houston, or they fight silent battles, like Prince.” She expressed. “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.’”
Elsewhere in the interview she opens up about her father’s struggle with addiction .“I think about watching my father go back and forth, and I just wish that at the time I understood that he wasn’t doing it because he wanted to,” she said. “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? 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.”