Big takeaways from Megan Thee Stallion’s documentary

Big takeaways from Megan Thee Stallion’s documentary

It’s been nearly two years since a jury convicted rapper Tory Lanez of shooting Megan Thee Stallion after a Los Angeles party in July 2020. Now, in a new documentary, Megan Thee Stallion, whose real name is Megan Pete, is taking the public through the tumultuous years leading up to Lanez’s December 2022 criminal trial.

In “Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words,” the rapper gives an in-depth look at the grief she endured after her mother’s death from a brain tumor in 2019 and the mental health struggles that stemmed from the shooting. She spoke candidly about the loss of her mother, the betrayal of her childhood friend Kelsey Harris — who supported Lanez after the shooting — and her fight for justice as Lanez, along with bloggers and gossip sites, disparaged her on social media, in music videos and more.

Megan Thee Stallion.Prime Video

Critics “have ran my goddamn name through the ground so bad. And I think it’s because of how I am, and what I talk about and what I look like,” Megan, 29, says in the documentary, now on Prime Video. “The betrayal, the constant online torture, everything that happened after the shooting definitely made it, like, a hundred times worse.”

The documentary marks the first time Megan has spoken at length about the shooting and her mental health since the criminal trial. The 112-minute film features interviews and real-time video footage of Megan over the years — from her 2021 graduation from Texas Southern University through her appearance at Lanez’s criminal trial. She addressed fans at a Los Angeles viewing on Wednesday, saying that she ultimately wanted to take control of her own narrative.

Here are the biggest revelations from “Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words.”

Megan says she fears being targeted while performing

In the years leading up to the trial, Megan endured an onslaught of online harassment from those who supported Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson. The critics, she said, were influenced by a host of bloggers, podcasters and social media accounts that relentlessly cast doubt on Megan’s account of being shot.

Even earlier this week, attorneys for Megan filed a lawsuit against commentator Milagro Gramz, accusing her of being a “mouthpiece” and a “paid surrogate” for Lanez during and after the high-profile criminal trial. In the documentary, Megan often speaks somberly or through tears when she details the harassment. In one scene, she speaks about fearing for her life.

“Guys online say, ‘You should have gotten shot in the head. He should have finished the job. He should have killed your a–. You’re always twerking, b—-, you deserved what you got,’” Megan recalled.

“I can’t separate trolling from real life,” she says. “Am I safe to perform in front of thousands of people? “I don’t know who in this crowd.”

She spent a month at a mental health facility

Megan detailed a downward spiral amid the media storm over the shooting, and she said she experienced suicidal thoughts for the first time. “I would rather not live through this than to have to live with this,” she says.

The mental hardship was only exacerbated by the 2022 burglary of her home. Two men broke into Megan’s Los Angeles home while she was in New York City preparing to host “Saturday Night Live.” One night after the burglary, Megan said, she had trouble breathing and called 911.

“I thought I was about to die before I left to go to therapy,” she said. “It was like three days. “I didn’t get out of the bed and I never felt like this in my life,” she said, adding that she “stayed under covers and… cried every day.”

She ultimately underwent mental health treatment for one month. She said she worked with a therapist daily to process the shooting and experienced several forms of therapy over that month.

Megan explains why she denied being intimate with Lanez

In an April 2022 interview with CBS News’ Gayle King, Megan detailed being afraid to tell police about the shooting in order to protect her friends from police violence, the online criticism, and claims that she and Lanez had a sexual relationship. She told King at the time that she and Lanez had not been intimate, but said in the documentary that she had sex with him “once, maybe twice, on a drunk night.”

A clip of the admission has circulated around the internet, with some social media users condemning Megan while others declare that their sexual relationship does not deny that Megan was shot.

In the documentary, Megan expressed frustration about the focus on her sexual relationships.

“They have villainized me for being this type of person. It started to make me second-guess myself,” she said, referring to her overtly sexual lyrics and public image. She said sometimes she even found herself getting wrapped up in focusing on her sex life instead of the shooting. “I’m like, ‘Wait, this is not what this is about!’”

Nneka Onuorah, who directed the documentary, told NBC News that any criticisms of the scene have been drowned out by the support for Megan since the film’s release.

“There’s always going to be varied opinions, but all that matters in this film is that Meg feels like she got to tell the truth from her lens,” Onuorah said. “And that’s the most important thing in the film, and that’s the success of it is that she was resilient and she’s triumphed and she’s thriving right now.”

Her road to testifying in court

Megan said she was in a better place after the mental health retreat, but was still nervous to testify against Lanez at the headline-making trial.

“I need to show up for Megan Pete,” she recalled thinking the day of her testimony, adding: “Today is not about trying to look strong. It’s OK to be sad. I need to stop avoiding it.”

A jury convicted Lanez, 32, who pleaded not guilty, of three felony charges in December: assault with a semiautomatic firearm, carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison.

She cried and hugged her staff when she learned of the conviction. To Megan, her testimony and the conviction were bigger than her.

“If it wasn’t me and I was on the outside looking in and something happened to me, I wouldn’t want to come forward,” she said. “If this famous lady can have this happen to her and nothing get done about it, what the f— do that say for a person who is just a civilian who don’t have the resources to fight?”

Years later, Megan has a string of successful albums and an arena tour under her belt. But she said in the documentary that she still contends with critics who condemn her for speaking out about the shooting.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.