Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images for Marc Jacobs
Robert Maraj, Nicki Minaj’s 64-year-old father, 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 6 pm Eastern time and taken to the hospital where he later died. The driver of the vehicle reportedly fled the scene “without a meaningful description from the witnesses”.
Minaj, who was born Onika Tanya Maraj, has yet to speak publicly about her father’s death. The singer had previously described Maraj as being violent with her mother, saying Rolling Stone in 2010, his father once set the house on fire with his mother inside.
“I remember when my mother let my father be violent towards her and she always brings up this story of when I was a girl and stood in front of my mother”, said the singer, demonstrating how she spread her arms for protection in his 2018 documentary Queen. “That’s why maybe some people describe me as abrasive or malicious or whatever, because I swore from that age that no man would ever abuse me, call my name, treat me like that. Then, suddenly, that was my life. “