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Hip-hop sensation NICKI MINAJ is proud she overcame her troubled childhood because fans now turn to her for help dealing with their own issues.
The rapper endured a tough upbringing as she witnessed her mum being beaten at the hands of her dad, who battled drug addiction.
Since rising to stardom, Minaj has been bombarded by messages from devotees who look to her for inspiration as they battle their own problems, and the Your Love hitmaker admits it makes her "feel good" to help troubled teens.
She tells Britain’s The Sun, "A lot of people send me direct messages on Twitter telling me what they are going through - their father is on drugs, this and that and the third. They feel like they can deal with all this stuff because I did and survived. They can have the worst hand dealt to them but they can do whatever they set their hearts on.
"A lot of fans say they like me because I don’t give a damn what they say about me. As a teenager you spend so much time worrying about what people say about you. When you have someone to look up to and you feel they don’t care, it makes you more comfortable with yourself.
"Whether you are overweight, whether you feel ugly, whatever it is (you have to say) ‘You know what? I am a bad b**ch. I don’t care. Go f**k yourself’. That’s the attitude they have. A lot of people on Twitter trying to be funny will say to me, ‘Damn you for giving these girls so much confidence. Now everybody thinks they look good’.
"That makes me feel good. If these girls walk around thinking they are the baddest thing on the planet, I am happy. That’s my manifesto. That’s my mission statement."

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Veteran musician JIMMY BUFFETT has been admitted to hospital in Australia after taking a nasty tumble off the stage during a concert.
The 64 year old was performing at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on Wednesday (26Jan11) when he fell into a large gap in front of the audience during the gig finale.
Buffett was reportedly unconscious for several minutes and suffered a gash on his head, reports TMZ.com.
The singer was taken to the city’s St. Vincent’s Hospital by paramedics, where he is said to be in a stable condition. He will reportedly remain in hospital while doctors assess the extent of his injuries.

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ROSIE O’DONNELL has defended controversial U.S. TV show TEEN MOM, insisting the series sends a "positive message" about parenthood to teens.
Scores of concerned parents and critics have blasted the Teen Mom franchise, which follows high school students who become mums at a young age.
But O’Donnell believes the show is beneficial as it encourages youngsters to wait before having sex - and admits she watches the programme with her adopted teenage daughter, Chelsea.
She tells UsMagazine.com, "I have to say it’s interesting. My daughter is 13. I watch it with her. I think the fantasy for adopted children is to have a baby of their own, and then keeping it, which their mother did not do.
"The rate of teenage pregnancy is up, so when my daughter saw that (Teen Mom 2) was on the air, I said ‘Let’s watch it.’ "At the end of almost every episode the mothers say they wish they used protection or waited, ‘My whole life is over,’ or ‘I can’t live the life of a teenager.’ I think it sends out a positive message."

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THE HANGOVER star ED HELMS has cast doubt on BILL CLINTON’s reported cameo appearance in THE HANGOVER sequel, insisting the former U.S. president didn’t shoot any scenes when he visited the comedy film’s set.
Clinton was rumoured to have landed a guest appearance in the hit movie’s follow-up after he was spotted on the set with stars including Zach Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper in November (10).
But Clinton didn’t step in front of the camera for director Todd Phillips, according to Helms.
When asked about Clinton’s cameo, Helms told MTV.com, "Check your sources. He came and visited us. I’d be surprised if there’s a scene in the movie." The Hangover Part II, which has a confirmed cameo appearance from boxing champion Mike Tyson, is due in theatres later this year (11).

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Teenage star HAILEE STEINFELD was thrown into a panic on the day of the Oscar nominations because she woke up to the sound of her parents screaming.
The 14-year-old actress is recognised in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in True Grit, but she was fast asleep when the Academy Awards shortlist was announced in an early morning ceremony in Los Angeles on Tuesday (25Jan11).
Steinfeld reveals the first thing she heard when she woke up were screams from her parents in the next room.
She tells USA Today, "I was in bed asleep and I woke up to hear my parents screaming in the other room. They had the TV up really loud. I was in complete shock. I really didn’t know what to think. ‘Am I dreaming?’" But the teenager admits she’s overjoyed to have received the honour at such a young age and she is already considering her next big job offer, adding, "We’re taking a look at some really great scripts, but I want to take it one day at a time. We’re in no rush."

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Movie composer HANS ZIMMER has criticised Academy Awards bosses for failing to nominate CHRISTOPHER NOLAN in the Best Director category for his hit movie INCEPTION, insisting he "cannot believe" the snub.
The filmmaker received an Oscar nod in the Best Original Screenplay category for his work on the sci-fi thriller, but was left off the shortlist for the coveted Best Director award.
Zimmer, who won a Best Original Score nomination for Inception, is stunned Nolan was snubbed, along with the movie’s editor Lee Smith, who also missed out on a nod.
He tells Billboard, "I cannot believe it. I just think it’s amazing. How could they leave those two guys out? The film really was different, and it really was a different vision.
"Everybody’s always harping on, ‘Can we do something new that’s successful?’ Well, he did something new that was immensely successful. I think… a little something creeps in that if it is successful, it suddenly can’t be judged as art anymore." The Best Director prize will be fought out by Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech), David Fincher (The Social Network), the Coen brothers (True Grit) and David O. Russell (The Fighter) at the Oscars ceremony next month (Feb11).

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American actor BRUCE GORDON has passed away just days after the death of his THE UNTOUCHABLES co-star PAUL PICERNI.
The 94 year old, who lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, died last Thursday (20Jan11) after a long illness, according to Santa Fe Funeral Options, a local funeral home.
The news comes just a week after his TV colleague Picerni suffered a fatal heart attack at his home in Llano, California.
Gordon made his Broadway debut in 1937, playing several small roles in The Fireman’s Flame. His other Broadway credits include Arsenic and Old Lace, Medea, Richard II, The Lark and Nowhere to Go But Up.
His television career kicked off in the 1940s, with guest appearances on several U.S. series, including I Spy, Have Gun - Will Travel, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Bonanza and Police Woman, among others.
In the late 1950s, he was the host of espionage docudrama Behind Closed Doors, and in the 1960s he enjoyed a recurring role on Peyton Place.
But Gordon will perhaps be best remembered for his role as mob boss Frank Nitti on classic 1960s U.S. TV series The Untouchables.
His feature film credits include Love Happy (1949), The Buccaneer (1958) and Tower of London (1962).
Information on Gordon’s survivors was not made available as WENN went to press.

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PAUL BETTANY regrets turning down COLIN FIRTH’s Oscar-nominated role in THE KING’S SPEECH, but he stands by his decision because it was "the right thing" to do for his family.
Firth received an Academy Award nomination on Tuesday (25Jan11) for his portrayal of stuttering British monarch King George VI in the film, while he also won a Golden Globe for his performance earlier this month (Jan11).
Screenwriter David Seidler recently admitted he originally wanted to hand the lead role to Bettany instead of Firth, and the actor has now revealed why he turned the part down.
Bettany maintains he would have enjoyed working with such a stellar cast and crew, but he needed to dedicate time to his wife Jennifer Connelly and their children, after spending five months filming The Tourist with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp.
He tells the Associated Press, "Number one, of course, it is a regret not to be working with such great… people, Geoffrey Rush and (director) Tom Hooper.
"I think it is a little inelegant for me to discuss it. I had been working for five months steadily and my son missed me and I missed my son. Both of my sons and my wife.
"Do I regret it? I regret not working with such amazing, amazing actors and directors and writers. But no, I have to do the right thing by my family every time." Bettany and Connelly are currently expecting their third child, while the actress is also mother to a daughter from a previous relationship.

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Former boxer MIKE TYSON has become a father for the eighth time.
The sportsman’s wife, Lakiha Spicer Tyson, gave birth to a baby boy on Tuesday (25Jan11).
The couple welcomed Morocco Elijah Tyson in Henderson, Nevada, with the tot weighing in at a healthy eight pounds and 13 ounces (3.7 kilograms), according to People.com.
Morocco is the couple’s second child and the eighth for Tyson, who tragically lost his four-year-old daughter Exodus in 2009 following a freak accident with an exercise machine.

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The music manager who guided CHRISTINA AGUILERA to fame has died at the age of 48.
Steve Kurtz passed away in New York on 27 December (10) after losing a long battle with metastatic kidney cancer.
The manager/attorney began working with the Dirrty hitmaker when she was just 17 years old and helped negotiate her multi-million dollar music contract with record label BMG.
Their relationship came to an acrimonious end in 2000, when the singer walked away from Kurtz and subsequently sued him in a dispute over commission and working practises.
Over the years Kurtz also represented 1960s singer/songwriter Lou Christie and classical performer Sasha Lazard.
Kurtz is survived by his wife Alison and two children, Max and Leo.

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JAMES MCAVOY spent every day on the set of GNOMEO AND JULIET hoping for a chance meeting with the film’s producer SIR ELTON JOHN - but the Scottish actor was left disappointed when his idol never showed up.
The Rocket Man helped bring the animated adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet to the big screen with McAvoy and Emily Blunt in the lead roles.
McAvoy spent several years working on the film, but never came face to face with his music hero because of their conflicting schedules.
He tells Parade magazine, "Do you know what? I have yet to meet the fantastic Elton John. I’m a total fan of his music and I’ve been working on this film for I think three years.
"Every day I would come to work and I would kind of be hoping that that would be the day Elton would be there but he was never there when I was there. I was absolutely gutted (disappointed). I thought, ‘Am I performing badly? Does he not like the film?’"

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KELLY OSBOURNE is leading a campaign to protect lesbians from an increasing number of brutal sex attacks in South Africa.
The singer has highlighted the practice of ‘corrective rape’, in which homosexual females are raped in the country in a bid to ‘cure’ their sexual preferences.
Osbourne is asking her devotees to sign up to a campaign calling for such crimes to be made illegal in the nation.
In a post on her Twitter.com page, Osbourne writes, "Please sign this petition!" She then adds a link to a news item detailing the case of Millicent Gaika, who is pictured with a heavily bruised face from an attack last year (10).
A statement posted on campaign website Avaaz.org reads, "Brave South African activists are risking their lives to ensure that Millicent’s case sparks change. Their appeal to the Minister of Justice has exploded to over 140,000 signatures, forcing him to respond on national television. If enough of us join in to amplify and escalate this campaign, we could help get urgent action to end ‘corrective rape’.
"Let’s call on President Zuma and the Minister of Justice to publicly condemn ‘corrective rape’, criminalise hate crimes, and lead a critical shift against rape and homophobia. Sign the petition now and share it with everyone."

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BLOC PARTY frontman KELE OKEREKE has found a new creative outlet - he’s writing his first book.
The British rocker is putting his music career on hold to move to New York and finish the project, and admits his latest venture is now his main priority.
He tells NME.com, "I’m moving to Manhattan in the next couple of weeks. I’m writing a book and I want to go somewhere and finish it.
"We (Bloc Party) had a meeting before Christmas, but I’m just focused on the book at the moment. I’m not thinking about anything like that (music) right now." The Helicopter hitmakers have been on hiatus since 2009, while Okereke released his first solo offering, The Boxer, last year (10).

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British singer ADELE has quit smoking in a bid to preserve her voice after a recent bout of illness.
The Chasing Pavements hitmaker recently fell sick with a sore throat while promoting new album 21, which was released on Monday (24Jan11), and was subsequently diagnosed with laryngitis.
The star visited a vocal specialist, who advised her to ditch her cigarette habit and change her diet - and Adele has stuck to the expert advice.
She tells Britain’s Daily Star, "I’ve had laryngitis and I couldn’t speak for six days last week. I didn’t think I’d be able to sing at the album launch.
"I went to see a therapist… for my voice. He told me to lay off the cigarettes. It’s not just the fags, I’ve had to give up milk, tomatoes, sweets, sucking mints."

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NICKI MINAJ refuses to tone down her outrageous outfits - because she’s convinced fans would be disappointed if they saw her dressed in casual gear.
The rapper has become renowned for her crazy clothes and bright wigs, which have become part of her trademark look, and she hates the thought of being seen in public without them.
Minaj tells Britain’s The Sun, "It’s a big thing for me to be a spectacle. When I don’t do it, I feel like I am letting people down. It’s like they don’t climax. They get to the point waiting to see you and then it’s a disappointment if I’m not dressed up.
"That’s what people want to see, that makes the kids excited. They will wear your outfits for Halloween. It makes them feel like you are having fun with them."

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Rocker-turned-music mogul BOBBY POE has died at the age of 77.
The veteran musician passed away in Oklahoma on Saturday (22Jan11) after suffering a fatal blood clot.
Poe rose to fame in the 1950s, playing with singer-pianist ‘Big’ Al Downing and forming Bobby Poe & the Poe Kats. The band famously backed singer Wanda Jackson and played on many of her hits.
He later dropped out of performing and turned to music management, looking after bands such as The Chartbusters, the group which Tom Hanks credited with inspiring his 1996 film That Thing You Do! In later years, Poe founded music industry tip sheets including the Pop Music Survey and ran a theatre showcasing country music talent.
Bobby Poe & the Poe Kats were inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
Poe is survived by his wife Ora Mae, a son and a daughter.

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Stage stars gathered at a theatre in New York City on Monday night (24Jan11) to pay tribute to FIDDLER ON THE ROOF composer JERRY BOCK, who died last year (10).
The award-winning songwriter passed away at the age of 81 in November (10) after suffering heart failure.
A number of actors who starred in the original productions of Bock’s Broadway hits, including Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me and The Rothschilds, as well as the stars of subsequent stage revivals attended a ceremony at the American Airlines Theatre in Manhattan to honour his legacy.
The show included performances of Bock’s most famous songs, including Fiddler’s well-known anthem If I Were a Rich Man, and was hosted by Bock’s longtime collaborator Sheldon Harnick, according to Playbill.com.

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The feud between the KINGS OF LEON and GLEE creator RYAN MURPHY has flared up again after the TV boss branded the rockers "self-centred" for passing up the chance to showcase their songs on the hit show.
The band declined producers’ request to feature their hit Use Somebody in the series, about a group of singing high school students, and Murphy admits he’s still sore about the snub.
He tells the Hollywood Reporter, "F**k you, Kings of Leon. They’re self-centred a**holes, and they missed the big picture. They missed that a seven-year-old kid can see someone close to their age singing a Kings of Leon song, which will maybe make them want to join a glee club or pick up a musical instrument.
"It’s like, OK, hate on arts education. You can make fun of Glee all you want, but at its heart, what we really do is turn kids on to music." Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill has since responded to the rant, insisting the Glee war has spiralled out of control.
He says, "This whole Glee thing is a shock to us. It’s gotten out of hand. At the time of the request, we hadn’t even seen the show. It came at the end of that record cycle, and we were over promoting (the song Use Somebody).
"This was never meant as a slap in the face to Glee or to music education or to fans of the show. We’re not sure where the anger is coming from. We just said no to a licence for a TV show, which we do a lot."

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