Nicki Minaj has thrown her support behind Donald Trump because of the "bullying" directed at the US President

Asked about her shift towards conservative politics, Nicki told The Katie Miller Podcast: "Religious freedom is something that's very important to me.

"But if I'm being honest, President Trump... because when I saw how he was being treated over and over and over, I just couldn't handle it."

The Super Bass hitmaker explained how she felt as though she had been subjected to similar personal attacks as those that have been aimed at Trump.

Minaj said: "I felt that same, you know, a lot of the bullying in this man's campaign, and all of the lying.

"I felt that that had been done to me for so many years, and I was watching it in real time happen to someone else, and I didn't think he deserved it. And it made me think, I can't do this anymore."

Nicki - who was born in the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago before arriving in the US as a child - explained that she has long had a sense that she was being pulled into something away from music as she started paying closer attention to Trump during the 2024 presidential election campaign.

In a clip posted to X, the Starships rapper cryptically said: "During the last (presidential) campaign... I saw something, and I texted someone I knew right away, and I said, 'This is a mistake.' And I also said, 'All of this is making me want to get into politics.'

"And then there was something that happened a few months ago that, if I wasn't going to do it before... I don't want to talk about it."

She added: "I will say, sometimes people can push you so much, that they push you all the way into your next calling.

"That's what happened with me."

Nicki joined Trump on stage in Washington DC last week, where she described herself as the President's "number one fan".

The star said: "I will say that I am probably the president's number one fan, and that's not going to change.

"And the hate or what people have to say, it does not affect me at all. It actually motivates me to support him more."