[Photo: @nickiminaj]

Nicki Minaj has announced she’s retiring from music to have a family.

The rapper, 36, took to Twitter on Thursday evening to break the news to her fans, who have gone into meltdown.

She tweeted: “I’ve decided to retire & have my family. I know you guys are happy now. To my fans, keep reppin me, do it til da death of me.

“In the box- cuz ain’t nobody checkin me. Love you for LIFE.”

Her fans have been left devastated by the news.

One tweeted: “I’m going to go cry now. We love you, Onika. Thank you… for everything.”

Nicki said she wants to have a family [Photo: Courtesy]

Another said: “Girl I would fight you if you quit now!! You worked so hard to get here don’t give up.”

“Excuse me??? Retire???? What about album #5” a third said.

The news comes after Nicki dropped a massive hint that she’d secretly got married.

She is in a relationship with Kenneth Petty and she changed her Twitter name to “Mrs. Petty” last month.

Nicki, who has been busy working on her album, said that she’ll be holding off on having a “big wedding” until after the record is finished, but would have a smaller ceremony for now.

She said: “I’ll be married before my album comes out, but will have my wedding after the album comes out. Before the 90 days is over, yes, I will be married.

“I’m very happy about that because my baby makes me so happy.”

Nicki and Kenneth Petty [Photo: Instagram]

It’s believed that Nicki met Kenneth when they were teenagers and living in Queens, but that they didn’t pursue a romantic relationship until they were adults.

The star has faced some criticism for her romance with Kenneth, who has been convicted of manslaughter and registered as a sex offender.

Defending him in an Instagram post, she wrote: “He was 15, she 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. Thank you boo.”

TMZ reports that Kenneth spent seven years behind bars for first degree manslaughter, which he pleaded guilty to after initially being charged with second degree murder.

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