Megan Thee Stallion Talks Love, Anxiety And Triumph In Rolling Stone Cover Story

Three-time Grammy Award winner Megan Thee Stallion has given her most detailed interview to date in her newest Rolling Stone cover story.

Megan Thee Stallion (whose real name is Megan Pete), spoke with RS‘s Mankaprr Conteh about a plethora of life-turning events that turned the Houston-born sensation into the superstar she is today. Combing through her trajectory to success that includes loss, betrayal, love and resilience.

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The reveling talk starts off with conversation about the loss of Megan’s mother and former manager Holly Pete, and her great grandmother who died shortly after. She then alludes to her infamous incident with singer and rapper Tory Lanez, who has been alleged to have shot her in the foot back in July 2020. The conversation then moves into the sectors of betrayal, loss and having constant feelings of anxiety and depression–followed by lighter conversations of her romantic relationship with rapper and songwriter Jorden Kyle Lanier Thorpe, better known as Pardison “Pardi” Fontaine. Megan also spoke on how she keeps busy with her pen in the studio.

“I thought we had a real connection,” she told Rolling Stone about her initial relationship with Lanez, which formed through their parallel experiences with losing their mothers to health related issues. “I thought he knew me. And I never would’ve thought he would’ve shot at me at all. I never put my hands on this man,” she continued. “I never did anything to him. There was an argument. People argue every day. Friends argue every day.”

Not only did Megan reveal that she felt betrayed by Tory Lanez and his team for allegedly falsifying information to the public to make her look like the villain, but it was when her best friend Kelsey Harris turned her back on her when she needed her the most. “I’m like, ‘Kelsey, as my best friend, why would you meet up with the person [Tory] you saw shoot your best friend?’” she reflected on days following the shooting incident. “She said, ‘Megan, y’all wasn’t answering my calls. My back was against the wall. I didn’t know what to do.’ What the f**k do you mean your back is against the wall? You’re the only person in this situation that would clear this up for me.

She added, “This girl told me out her mouth, ‘He told me, Oh, thank you for not saying nothing. Now let me invest in your business. Let me do this. Let me do that.’ And all I know was, from that day on, she never said nothing else about the whole situation online.” Megan does mention in the interview that the one person she truly trusts when it comes to her best interest in the music industry is her current manager and former Swishahouse A&R, T. Farris, whom her mom really liked. She even jokingly revealed that her mom “didn’t like anybody in life,” so when her mom trusted Farris, it made Megan feel that she could too.

This very public incident has caused Megan much distress, according to the Good News rapper. She told RS that she deals with ongoing anxiety and depression ever since the alleged shooting. She also mentioned that sometimes her ever-changing mental state makes it hard for her to believe that her own boyfriend, Pardi, still wants to deal with her through it all–although he is beyond supportive of what she is going through.

“I appreciate him for loving on me even when I don’t feel like I love me,” Megan expressed. “I have a lot of anxiety, and I know I’m probably depressed on some level. I’ll be like, ‘Damn, you really sticking through it?’ I really want to be good for you [Pardi], because I’m trying to be good for myself.’ But I just . . . I don’t know. Right now, I really don’t know, because sometimes I don’t feel good about me. So I feel like it’s hard to be in a relationship when you are not loving on yourself right.”

The covers expounds on Meg’s love for her mother, her last moments with her and how she influenced her to be the strong woman she is today. Staying true to her mom’s way of pushing her to be the best, when writing music Megan always scratches the first draft, as her mom would’ve done if she was alive. Her mom always encouraged her to “go harder than that.” Ahead of her Mom’s passing, Megan also uncovered that her mom’s last words to her were, “Megan, I don’t want you to miss this opportunity just because I’m sick,” Holly told her before an L.A. booked show. “I don’t want that to stop you from being Megan Thee Stallion. You need to take Farris and y’all need to go to L.A.” Her mother sadly died hours later.

Through it all Meg says that she still looks forward to her “sunset” years. Meg hilariously said, “I feel I’m going to be a lit-ass grandma,” she said. “Still going to be like, ‘Yes, I still got the good knees!’ What? I got a lineage of good knees. It’s like my daughter, her daughter, her daughter-daughter. It’s just going to be a bunch of us just lit-ass beautiful Black women!”

Although Megan awaits a trial to start in September against Tory Lanez, she still has optimism through the hurdles in her life at the moment. “Look at everything I can accomplish and everything I can do in the face of it,” she said. “I’m still not letting nothing knock me down to take me off my game. So you shouldn’t let nothing take you off your game, either. Because if I can get through this sh*t, you could get through your sh*t.” 

The entire cover story is available to read on Rolling Stone.

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