EXCLUSIVE! Jennifer Hough Tearfully Speaks Out on Lawsuit Against Nicki Minaj & Convicted Sex Offender Kenneth Petty

Jennifer Hough — the woman who according to reports, at 16 years old in 1994, told police that Nicki Minaj’s now-husband Kenneth Petty who was then also reportedly 16 had raped her after leading her into a home with a weapon — is speaking out for the first time on camera about her recently filed lawsuit against Minaj and Petty. Following the 1994 incident, Petty was initially charged with first degree rape. He has denied the rape charges but subsequently pleaded guilty to attempted rape, and spent over four years in prison.

While appearing on “The Real” Wednesday, Hough sat alongside her lawyer Tyrone Blackburn, who clarified that the lawsuit — filed last month in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York — pertains to the events last year in which Hough alleges Minaj and Petty sent associates to harass her in an effort to get her to recant her 1994 allegations and help to get Petty off the sex offender registry.

Among the charges, Hough is accusing Minaj and Petty of harassment and intimidation.

“I’m tired of being afraid. 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. And I don’t want to be afraid anymore. So, the only way not to be afraid is to continue to speak up,” Hough said when asked why she is talking about the incident now.

When asked if she felt justice was served, Hough responded, “I don’t think I thought about justice, per se, because I was still blaming myself. I thought it was something that I did or didn’t do, so I don’t think I thought about if I got justice. I just knew he did what he did, and he went to jail and I had to leave my family, I had to leave my home, and I had to move away. So, I never really gave it much thought.”

In her lawsuit, Hough alleges that she and her family members started to receive messages from people claiming to be connected with Minaj and Petty shortly after Petty was arrested last year for failing to register as a sex offender in California when he moved from New York. (Earlier this month, Petty pleaded guilty to the single-count indictment after initially pleading not guilty. He is scheduled to be sentenced in January.)

When asked if she has spoken to Minaj directly, Hough alleges Minaj called her in March 2020 “and [Minaj] said that she got word that I was willing to help them out in a situation. I didn’t understand what she was referring to. She offered to fly me and my family to L.A. I turned it down. And I told her, woman to woman, this really happened.”

Per her lawsuit, Hough said after this, she and her family members started receiving an “onslaught of harassing calls and unsolicited visits.”

Hough also alleges that an associate of Minaj and Petty offered her $20,000 to sign a prepared statement recanting the accusation.

On “The Real,” Hough claimed that after she said no to this associate, she allegedly received a message that “I should have taken the money because they’re going to use that money to put on my head.”

Following this, Hough said she was forced to change her phone number and had to relocate multiple times.

Blackburn also alleges that the associate who offered Hough $20,000 recently posted an Instagram video “threatening to kill or to do bodily harm” to Hough. Blackburn alleges this video was posted six days after Petty accepted his plea deal for failing to register as a sex offender in California.

Hough’s lawsuit claims that she “has not worked since May of 2020 due to severe depression, paranoia, constant moving, harassment, and threats from the defendants and their associates,” adding that “she is currently living in isolation out of fear of retaliation.”

When asked by co-host Adrienne Houghton how the alleged incident has affected her over the years, Hough responded, “In so many ways. Hiding, within myself. Living and surviving through insecurities. Using them to protect myself, thinking that if I don’t look a certain way, I won’t attract a certain type of attention. I’ve been like that my whole life.”

Overall, the message that Hough wants to send with her lawsuit is to let Minaj and Petty know “that they were wrong. You can’t do this to people. You shouldn’t do this to people.”

“He did something a long time ago and he had consequences that he was supposed to stick with. What they did to me and my family wasn’t okay. 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.”

She continued, “I want my daughters to know that as they grow, as they experience life, as they come in contact with friends, family, strangers, whatever, that they’ll have the strength to know that they have a voice, and they should use it. And don’t ever let anybody try to silence them.”

In December 2018, Minaj defended Petty over his conviction, writing to a fan on social media that “[Petty] was 15, [Hough] was 16 ... in a relationship… But go awf, internet, y'all can't run my life. Y'all can't even run y'all own life.”

Hough has denied that she and Petty were ever in a romantic relationship.

“The Real” has reached out to Petty’s lawyers and Minaj’s representatives, who did not respond to requests for comment.