Megan Thee Stallion has taken the reins of her own story with Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words, a new documentary on Amazon. At nearly two hours long, the film tackles some of her toughest times and biggest wins. Here are ten of its boldest moments.
Anime Illustrates Megan’s Most Traumatic Moments
Megan has never shied away from the fact that she’s a huge “weeb”, but until now, her love of anime and Japanese culture has been a more playful part of her trajectory. The documentary, however, uses the animation style to depict especially daunting days from her life for which there’s little to no footage: the formative bullying she faced for her height as a child, the moments her mother was rushed to the hospital with the previously undiagnosed brain tumor that killed her (Megan had to decide whether to end her mother’s life support), the gruesome night Tory Lanez shot her (in bloody detail), and having to face the man that could have killed her at trial.
Before Sold Out Arenas, Megan Would Perform at Nearly Empty Venues
Once Megan decided she was going to be a rapper, she would perform anywhere, all the time, as she explains in the documentary. In one clip from early in her career, she bounds into a small, nearly empty amphitheater to perform for a mere few dozen young people – and gives them a dose of the boundless energy she’s come to be known for.
She Doesn’t Shy Away From Showing the Former Bestie Who ‘Betrayed’ Her
In an era where celebrity documentaries can be rather shallow, Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words not only gives a close look into her former friendship with Kelsey Harris, but paints a nuanced picture of their relationship. Harris was present the night Tory Lanez shot Megan but claimed she didn’t remember anything about it when the Los Angeles D.A. brought her to the stand as a witness in their case against Lanez. In her 2022 Rolling Stone cover story, Megan said, ”I feel shame, a little bit, because even after he shot me, I still was thinking about everybody else in the car…I thought everybody in the car was my friend, [and] the whole time, that’s not how they thought of me. That’s what really hurts.” The documentary shows just how close they were before the shooting, with bites of Megan praising Harris’s tenacity, their fits of laughter, and a clip of the pair crying together about Megan’s mother’s death. “That’s why I want to make sure Megan is always good,” Harris says through tears. “We’re sisters.”
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Megan Admits She Lied to Gayle King – and Explains Why
In a now infamous interview with CBS’s veteran anchor Gayle King, Megan said plainly that she did not have sex with Tory Lanez, a claim she’d go on to contradict in court. The documentary shows the preparation for the CBS taping, clips of it, and its aftermath – including scores of people on the internet convinced Megan had lied about having sex with Lanez before she admitted it herself. “No disrespect to nobody who is a journalist or interviewer, but sometimes when I’m talking to these people, I feel like they’re trying to get me,” she says in a private moment, calling their sexual relationship “irrelevant” in the face of his unwarranted assault on her. However, she’s straight up with her long time manager T. Farris soon after the CBS taping; he tells her that eventually, facing the fact head on will be good for her. “Yes bitch, I lied to Gayle King. Bitch, first of all, I ain’t know that bitch was finna ask about that shit,” she says. “I fucked this nigga like once, maybe twice on a drunk night – bitch, [he] kept catching me every time I was out of my fucking mind.”
Diddy Makes a Disturbing Cameo
The documentary shows the many men in entertainment and media who defended Lanez and piled on Megan after the viscous shooting — including Chris Brown, Adin Ross, DaBaby, 50 Cent, LeBron James, and Meek Mill — but no clip was more ominous than one of a conversation between the now-disgraced Sean “Diddy” Combs and Lanez. “You’re one of my favorite R&B artists,” Diddy tells Lanez. “You know I got a mean, toxic side.”
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We Get an Intimate Look at Megan’s Real Family
In her Rolling Stone cover story, Megan said Lanez came into her life at a time she was looking to create a sense of family as she navigated Hollywood after the deaths of her parents and great-grandmother. However, the documentary offers a novel and refreshing look at her true kin — including heartwarming clips of her mother, Holly Thomas, working diligently as Megan’s manager and parent simultaneously, her cousin Lydia, whom she grew up with and who came to her Miami home to be with Megan as she awaited the Lanez’s verdict in Tory Lanez, plus Lyida’s adorable infant daughter, Phoebe (whom Megan nicknames “Phoebekah” and “Phoebenah”). Megan even divulges that after her dad died, she and her mother were so heartbroken they rarely talked about it.
Megan Makes Her First Visit to Her Mother’s Grave
On a visit to Houston to receive a ceremonial key to the city from its mayor, Megan makes one request — that her car stop by her mother’s gravesite, as she hadn’t seen it in person. The event took place in May 2022, more than three years after Thomas’ death. The documentary camera accompanies her there, as she cries solemnly and leaves flowers.
Homicidal Tory Lanez Supporters Scared Megan While She Was n Stage
During a montage of the many festivals Megan performed at in the summer of 2022, Megan admits that she feared for her life whenever she took on large events. Several Lanez supporters had wished death on her online, including one person who said “He should have gave the glock to me so I can finish the job,” and another who said he needed to “aim higher” for a “head shot.” “I can’t separate the trolling from real life,” she says. “Am I safe to perform in front of thousands of people? I don’t know who’s in the crowd.” At one point after the shooting, Lanez even texted her that she looked “sad” on an Instagram Live he watched. She wondered how he could be living in so carefree a manner while she was so paranoid — one clip showed him posing for red carpet cameras at a Rolling Stone Live party in Los Angeles (to which he was not invited and eventually escorted out of).
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After SNL, Megan Checked Into a Wellness Center
In November 2022, Megan performed songs from Traumazine in a coveted musical guest spot on Saturday Night Live, but while she was in New York, her Los Angeles home was broken into, the culprits potentially knowing she was away, according to a news report. After years of immense stress, she said she had a major breakdown; she stayed in bed crying for three days and experienced suicidal ideation for the first time. The rapper went on a mental health retreat at an undisclosed location for a month, extending what was meant to be a two-week stay. “I took so many different types of therapies,” she says, including ones that forced her to confront the trauma of the shooting daily. “I just feel like a new bitch.”
Megan Broke Down When Tory Lanez is Convicted
Cameras follow Megan as she spends a tense day waiting on the verdict in the trial against Lanez. Family and a support system fill her Miami home, and though there are moments of joy, she’s on edge. When she’s told that Lanez was convicted on the highest charge, she breaks down in audible sobs. “Its over,” a woman tells her with a big hug. “Thank you God,” Megan cries. “If I didn’t think there was God before, motherfucker, I do now.”
