Megan Thee Stallion Holds Back Tears at Documentary Premiere: “I Started to Watch a Lot of People Dehumanize Me”
Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words, set for release on Prime Video on Thursday, peels back the layers of the Houston rapper whose journey to stardom has been riddled with great success and much grief.
In 2019, the self-proclaimed H-town hottie lost her mother and grandmother in the same month and one year later she found herself at the center of both a criminal investigation and character assassination when Tory Lanez was charged with shooting her in the feet. At the premiere of the documentary in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Megan once again used her words to share the purpose behind the film, holding back tears as she took the stage inside the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
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“I started to watch a lot of people dehumanize me, and a lot of people were trying to take control of my narrative and tell my story, so that’s why I even agreed to do the documentary in the first place,” Megan told the audience. “So let me just tell my truth and lay it out on the table because y’all don’t respect shit else but raw and honesty. I was trying to be a cookie-cutter celebrity for y’all but it didn’t work out. I am a real goddamn hot girl coach. So y’all are about to experience Megan Pete for the first time.”
Megan Thee Stallion was born Megan Jovon Ruth Pete in San Antonio, Texas, before her mother, Holly Thomas — also a rapper who went by the name Holly-Wood — moved them to Houston. “I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without Holly Thomas,” Megan said in her speech. “My mom told me not to tell my own business, but I think this was the perfect opportunity to go ahead and tell my business.”
Megan Pete is who director Nneka Onuorah is most excited for viewers to meet as well. “The deeply curious, vulnerable, humble little Meg,” Onuorah told The Hollywood Reporter. “I think they’re gonna see that she’s truly just like everybody else. And it’s such a beautiful thing to watch. I’m so happy for people to see the person that I actually know.”
Getting Megan to allow her to get to know her was a process in itself, both women said. “I have been giving Nnkea hell for the past three goddamn years,” Megan admitted in her opening remarks. “When they first came to me and said, ‘We’re about to make a documentary about you,’ I said, ‘No we’re not.'”
Sharing how she made the producing team cut their cameras when they first arrived to film, Megan recalled how Onuorah then pulled out her cell phone and began capturing footage herself.
“I earned her trust because I gave her my time and effort. She saw that I wasn’t there for the Megan Thee Stallion,” said Onuorah. “I was like, ‘We gotta get this movie done.’ I was very direct about that. But also, typically, where I would have a full film crew, a lot of the movie I shot… so in her car, in her home, any intimate setting, I stuck with her and stayed with her through the process.”
The result is a 112-minute doc that explores the vulnerable sides of fame, from social media controversies and mental health struggles to the pressures of success and, above all, the resilience that led to this moment.
“My last message is, hotties, I don’t give a fuck what the hate campaign says” said Megan, closing out her introduction. “I don’t give a fuck what they’re talking about on the internet. I don’t give a fuck what they tell you I’m not doing. You see in real time what I’m doing. I’m doing real shit, and y’all are real people, and I’m a real person, and I’m just grateful to have y’all as my real supporters.”
Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words is now streaming on Prime Video.
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