Megan Thee Stallion has shared a deeply personal retelling of the ups and downs of her life since Tory Lanez shoot her in the foot back in 2020.
In an essay penned by Megan for Elle, the Texas-born rapper states this is the “final time that I’ll address anything regarding the case in the press,” and said she doesn’t “plan to keep reliving the most traumatic experience of my life over and over again. I’m choosing to change the narrative because I’m more than just my trauma.”
The piece starts with a similar assertion, solidifying that Megan sees herself as a survivor and not a victim “because I have truly survived the unimaginable,” she writes. “Not only did I survive being shot by someone I trusted and considered a close friend, but I overcame the public humiliation of having my name and reputation dragged through the mud by that individual for the entire world to see.”
Leading up to the December 2022 trial, several members of the music industry and online spectators shared commentary online that either discredited Megan’s recount of the attack or piled onto the overall media frenzy. “I could have let the adversity break me, but I persevered, even as people treated my trauma like a running joke,” she writes, citing the “conspiracy theories that I was never shot” and “the false narratives that my former best friend shot me.”
She said that it “never crossed my mind that people wouldn’t believe me,” but continued with the belief that “truth and the indisputable facts would prevail.” Addressing Lanez as her “attacker,” Megan condemned the Canadian rapper who she said “laughed and joked about my trauma,” and “peddled false narratives about what happened on the night of July 12, 2020.”
“Imagine how it feels to be called a liar every day? Especially from a person who was once part of your inner circle.”
Megan also spoke in detail about her depression, and how it stopped her from feeling inspired in her own career. “I didn’t feel like making music. I was in such a low place that I didn’t even know what I wanted to rap about,” she said. “I wondered if people even cared anymore. There would be times that I’d literally be backstage or in my hotel, crying my eyes out, and then I’d have to pull Megan Pete together and be Megan Thee Stallion.”
She continued, “When the guilty verdict came on Dec. 23, 2022, it was more than just vindication for me, it was a victory for every woman who has ever been shamed, dismissed, and blamed for a violent crime committed against them.”
The impassioned essay concludes on a hopeful note with Megan acknowledging that the “physical and mental scars from this entire ordeal will always sting,” but that her break from social media and “spending time with my dogs, hanging out with my manager, Farris, and doing a lot of praying,” has helped her to heal.
“I’m excited to get back into music, because I have been so transformed,” she noted. “I’m playing around with new songs and new sounds that I can’t wait for everyone to hear.”
The essay comes just a few weeks afterLanez requested a motionfor a new trial in the shooting case, though the judge has yet to make a decision.
