Megan Thee Stallion has opened up about her mental health struggles after she was shot by Canadian rapper Tory Lanez in 2020.
“The truth is that I started falling into a depression,” she wrote in an essay for Elle. “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. 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.”
Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, was found guilty just before Christmas of assault with a firearm, carrying a loaded and unregistered firearm and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. The Ontario native has been in custody at the Men’s Central Jail in L.A. since the verdict. He could be sentenced to up to 22 years and eight months in prison and deportation to Canada,
Lanez's lawyers have filed an appeal of the verdict.
TORY LANEZ: Full iHeartRadio.ca Music News Coverage
Megan called Lanez’s conviction “more than just vindication” after being doubted and taunted.
“It was a victory for every woman who has ever been shamed, dismissed, and blamed for a violent crime committed against them,” Megan wrote.
She recalled that after the shooting, her name and reputation was “dragged through the mud” by Lanez. “For years, my attacker laughed and joked about my trauma,” wrote Megan. “For years, my attacker peddled false narratives about what happened … For years, my attacker tried to leverage social media to take away my power. Imagine how it feels to be called a liar every day?”
(In February, a judge agreed to rescind an order that prevented Lanez for publicly commenting on the case.)
Megan said even some of her music industry peers “piled on with memes, jokes, and sneak disses, and completely ignored the fact that I could have lost my life.” She said some “tried to justify my attacker’s actions.”
With her Elle essay, Megan said she is done talking publicly about the incident.
“I understand the public intrigue, but for the sake of my mental health, I don’t plan to keep reliving the most traumatic experience of my life over and over again,” she wrote.