Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images for Marc Jacobs
Robert Maraj, the 64-year-old father of Nicki Minaj, died on Saturday after being hit in a hit-and-run incident in Mineola, New York on Friday night. TMZ first reported the news, which was confirmed by the Nassau County Police Department. Maraj, who lived in Mineola, was hit while walking around 6pm ET and taken to the hospital where he later died. The driver of the vehicle allegedly fled the scene ‘without a meaningful description of witnesses’.
Minaj, born Onika Tanya Maraj, has not yet publicly addressed the death of her father. The singer described Maraj earlier as violent towards her mother and told Rolling clip in 2010 that her father once set fire to their home with her mother inside.
“I remember when my mother wanted my father to act violently with her, and she always told this story when I was a little girl, and I would stand in front of my mother,” the singer showed as she reached out her arms. for protection, in her 2018 documentary Queen. ‘That’s why some people might describe me as naughty or bitchy, or whatever, because from that age on I promised that no one would ever abuse me, name me and treat me like that. Then suddenly it was my life. ”