Nicki Minaj says she nearly died last week, but was too afraid to call an ambulance because she feared the recording would end up on gossip sites such as TMZ.

Minaj made the shocking revelation during her acceptance speech at the BET Awards yesterday after winning Best Female Hip-Hop artist for the fifth consecutive year.

“The other day, literally I didn’t tell anyone this, I really thought I was about to die,” she said while on stage. “Like I was saying my prayers to die. And I didn’t even wanna call the ambulance because I thought, ‘Well if I call the ambulance, it’s gonna be on TMZ.’

And I would rather sit there and die … and it made me realise, I don’t care what anybody gotta say. “I’ma do me, I’ma do me”. And I hope and pray that BET continues to honour authenticity. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

” Gossip websites such as TMZ have often gotten hold of leaked 911 calls and run them on their site.