(Photo: Reuters/Steve Marcus)Rapper and singer-songwriter from Trinidad and Tobago Nicki Minaj arrives at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards show in Las Vegas May 22, 2011.
Nick Minaj, 29-year-old New York genre-bending rapper, recently spoke about how the church saved her family, and how God is her hero.
Minaj, who recently released her second studio album titled, "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded," spoke with The Guardian magazine about how her parent's violent marriage was saved after they began attending church.
In an interview on "Nightline" earlier this month, Minaj said she wanted to kill her father Omar when she was a child due to his abusive past as a drug addict.
"I wanted to kill [my dad]. I used to wish he was dead," Minaj said in the interview. "We were afraid for my mother's life because whenever he would have a real bad outburst he would threaten to kill her."
However, Minaj told The Guardian that her father turned his life around by going through rehabilitation and being saved in church.
"He's still with my mother. He went to rehab and cleaned himself up," Minaj said. "Eventually they started going to church a lot, and he got saved and started changing his life. He's away from drugs now. He doesn't instill fear in people anymore."
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Minaj also told the publication who her heroes were: "God. And my mother."
Although Minaj showed her spiritual side to the publication, some members in the Catholic community have been less than happy with the rapper's actions.
Minaj first caused controversy when she appeared on the red carpet of the Grammy awards show in a red robe with a man dressed as a pope. During the performance of her song "Roman's Holiday," the rapper imitated an exorcism and levitated while using a large amount of Catholic references tinged with sexuality.
Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League, criticized Minaj's performance and questioned if the rapper-turned-pop star was possessed.
"Whether Minaj is possessed is surely an open question, but what is not in doubt is the irresponsibility of The Recording Academy," Donahue said in a release by the Catholic League.
Marcus Plieninger, Director of Policy Studies for the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, accused Minaj of trashing the Catholic faith.
"Minaj's anti-Catholic performance highlighted not only the decadence but also the selective tolerance rampant in the entertainment industry," Plieninger told The Christian Post.
However, Minaj has previously given an indication of her faith, tweeting about Jesus Christ last Christmas. The entertainer tweeted John 3:16 to close to 8 million followers over Christmas 2011.
"For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son; that whosoever believeth in him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life," Minaj tweeted.
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