Nicki Minaj’s Real Debt Revealed: Could Kenneth Petty Cost Her $500,000?

Nicki Minaj is back in legal turbulence over a half-million-dollar judgment she reportedly hasn’t paid, and the guy on the other end of it now wants a judge to force the sale of her Hidden Hills mansion. Yes, we’ve gone straight from unpaid bill to sell-the-house. That escalated quickly.

Key dates

• Mar 22, 2019: During Minaj’s Nicki Wrld Tour stop in Germany, head of security Thomas Weidenmüller says he was punched by Kenneth Petty backstage.
• Oct 2019: Minaj and Petty get married.
• Sep 2020: Their son, known publicly as Papa Bear, is born.
• Dec 2022: Minaj buys an 11,820-square-foot Hidden Hills estate for $19.5 million.
• Mar 2024: A court awards Weidenmüller a default judgment after Minaj and Petty don’t respond to his lawsuit.
• Oct (this year): Weidenmüller asks the court to step in and order a forced sale of Minaj’s home after, per his filing, standard collection efforts went nowhere.

How this fight started

Weidenmüller was running security for Minaj’s Germany show on March 22, 2019, when a male concertgoer allegedly slipped past security and reached Minaj during the performance. According to Weidenmüller’s account in court filings, Minaj berated a female guard, he stepped in to calm things down, Minaj got angrier, and he was later called to her room, where Petty and additional security were present. Weidenmüller says Petty blindsided him with a punch that fractured his jaw.

He claims he needed eight surgeries over the following months to repair the damage, including the insertion of five metal plates. He sued Minaj and Petty seeking damages. Neither responded, so the court entered default judgments against both of them in March 2024.

The bill and the big ask

The judgment currently stands at $503,318, according to Page Six. Weidenmüller’s legal team says Minaj and Petty still haven’t paid and argues that regular collection tactics didn’t work. So now they’re asking for the nuclear option: a court-ordered sale of Minaj’s Hidden Hills property.

The house on the line

The home at issue is not some marginal asset. It’s an 11,820-square-foot spread in Hidden Hills with 11 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms that Minaj bought for $19.5 million in December 2022. Recent appraisals put it around $20 million. Court papers list a mortgage lien of $13,258,000 and a homestead exemption of $722,151. Even after those, Weidenmüller’s filing pegs the available equity at roughly $6 million — more than enough to cover a half-million-dollar judgment with a lot left over.

Why this unusual move could actually fly

On its face, selling a $20 million house to collect a $503k judgment sounds extreme. But under California law, a creditor can ask a judge to force the sale of a debtor’s residence without first exhausting every other collection method. If Minaj and Petty continue not to engage with the case, a judge could decide the sale is the cleanest way to satisfy the judgment and move on.

Where this leaves Minaj

Minaj’s overall fortune gets tossed around a lot online — Celebrity Net Worth pegs it around $130 million — but that’s not the point here. The point is that, as long as this judgment remains unpaid, a very valuable piece of her real estate portfolio is in play. If the court agrees with Weidenmüller’s request, the house could go up for sale, the judgment gets paid, and Minaj still walks away with significant equity — just not the house.

Side notes

Minaj and Petty married in October 2019 and welcomed their son in September 2020. Minaj has also been making headlines lately for social media skirmishes with Cardi B and others — different drama, same news cycle.