Megan Thee Stallion is opening up about a difficult time in her life.
Months after Tory Lanez began his sentence for shooting at and wounding her in the feet, the "Body" artist looked back at the incident and recalled how it was painful for her not only physically but mentally as well.
"A lot of people didn't treat me like I was human for a long time," Megan told Women's Health in a cover story released April 10. "I feel like everybody was always used to me being the fun and happy party girl. I watched people build me up, tear me down, and be confused about their expectations of me. As a Black woman, as a darker Black woman, I also feel like people expect me to take the punches, take the beating, take the lashings, and handle it with grace. But I'm human."
Having a career in the public eye—and being subject to people's comments—didn't make things any easier. When Megan would have to go onstage, she continued, "I would be crying half the time because I didn't want to [perform] but I also didn't want to upset my fans."
And the Grammy remembered going through some "dark times" in the aftermath of the shooting.
"I didn't want to get [out] from under the covers," she added. "I stayed in my room. I would not turn the lights on. I had blackout curtains. I didn't want to see the sun. I knew I wasn't myself. It took me a while to acknowledge that I was depressed. But once I started talking to a therapist, I was able to be truthful with myself."
Going to therapy was one of many steps Megan took in her healing journey. Others, she told the outlet, included cutting ties with people who weren't adding to her life, deleting social media apps and working out so she could "focus my energy elsewhere."
"I'm in a space where I feel good mentally," she shared, "so I want to look as good as I feel."
The 29-year-old was also able to express herself through her music—with her getting ready to release a new album.
"I'm getting into a better space with making music that is still true to myself but also true to my message," she told Women's Health. "I am very much a flower, but my flower has thorns."
In July 2020, Megan shared on Instagram that she was taken to the hospital after suffering gunshot wounds and underwent surgery to remove the bullets. And she spoke out about the hurtful comments she was receiving.
"Black women are so unprotected & we hold so many things in to protect the feelings of others w/o considering our own," she tweeted at the time. "It might be funny to y'all on the internet and just another messy topic for you to talk about but this is my real life and I'm real life hurt and traumatized."
Tory was found guilty of assault with an automatic firearm, carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence in December 2022, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison the following August. While Tory (a.k.a. Daystar Peterson) had pleaded not guilty, at the sentencing, he told the presiding judge, per the Associated Press, "Everything I did wrong that night, I take full responsibility for."