The Untold Truth Of Megan Thee Stallion - Nicki Swift (2024)

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ByMaeve McDermottUpdated: Feb. 2, 2021 5:48 pm EST

From the "Hot GirlSummer" catchphrase that ruled 2019 to the many viral dance crazes soundtracked by her music, Megan Thee Stallion has swept the Internet and social media with her fearless personality and assertive raps — all while in her mid-20s. Simply put, Megan has taken the hip-hop world by storm.At the time of this writing, the rapper has yet to release a full-length album, but Megan's mixtapes and EPs have inspired listeners and impressed critics with her brash femininity. She's a new kind of rap icon, and boasts a loyal fanbase that she's affectionally dubbed her "Hotties." As she toldPeople in 2020, "The internet has always been my friend when it comes to my music catching on,"adding, "I just want people to listen to my music and feel good ...Music can set the tone for the day."

Born with family roots in hip-hop, the rapper is a multi-faceted talent, with many pursuits and interests that more fair-weather fans may not know about. Throughout all her ups and downs, Megan is a fighter, with a take-no-prisoners approach to her public life and a wealth of hobbies that keep her busy when she's not in the studio.Read on to learn more about one of music's most intriguing young stars.

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Born Megan Jovon Ruth Pete on Feb. 15, 1995, Megan Thee Stallion was first inspired to make music by her rapper mother, Holly Thomas, who performed under the name Holly-Wood and brought Megan to her studio when she was a child."My mom [was] the first female rapper I've ever known," Megan told Vulturein a 2019 interview about her introduction to rap, saying she listened to her mother in the studio with her "ear to the door."

Inspired by her mom to pursue music, Megan told Rolling Stone that she's been writing lyrics "since [she] was maybe seven," and was shy at first about sharing her hip-hop talents. When she finally began chasing her hip-hop career, her mother was initially surprised by the adult nature of her lyrics. "At first, she was a little taken aback, like, 'Megan, where did this come from? Why are you talking like that? I can't believe you,'" Megan recalled toVulture.

But her mother's reaction was temporary, and when Megan's own career began to take off, she brought her mother on board to join her team. "She quit her job, like her regular job, and now she's my full-time manager," she told HipHopDX in 2018 about working with her mom, calling it a "happy" partnership.

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Megan Thee Stallion stands at an impressive height, bragging on Twitter that she's "5'10" and taller in [her] heels." Her nickname is also inspired by her height, with"stallion" a Southern slang term for a tall woman."Since I was younger, probably about 15 or 16, I've always had the same body," Megan toldHoustonia. "Older guys would always be like, 'Oh, you a stallion.'" Megan adopted the name as her own, added it to her Twitter bio, and "ever since then everybody's just been calling [her] Stallion."

The "Savage"rapper also touched upon her nickname while speaking to The Source, explaining,"Honestly, I call myself Thee Stallion because obviously, I'm tall and fine." Channeling the confidence that fans hear in her music, she then added, "So men are immediately intimidated by the height anyway. I'm 5'10."

In 2019, her height became a Twitter trending topic, with her fans coming to her defense after a troll insulted her stature in a since-deleted tweet. Always vocal on social media,Megan sent her own decisive message to the haters. "Y'all be thinking y'all insulting me by calling me tall," she tweeted. "I been tall all my life and still get any man I want."

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Even while recording new music and traveling the U.S. to perform live shows, Megan Thee Stallion has stayed in school, and at the time of this writing, is studying health care administrationonlineat Texas Southern University. In the past, Megan described the difficulties of balancing school and rapping toThe Source, admitting thatshe sometimes uses her class time to work on songs. "I'm writing every day or thinking of treatments for videos," she said, adding, "Sometimes when I'm in class I'll be writing. I'm for sure listening but I'm like for sure writing a song at the same time."

When Megan graduates, she dreams of opening an assisted-living facility in Houston, Texas, tellingVulture that her decision was motivated by watching her great-grandmother take care of her ailing grandmother. "Just watching her take care of [my grandmother] made me want to create a facility for people who are older to go and have somebody help them with their end-of-life care," she explained.

Megan also has her classmates' backs, revealing toThe Source that she wants to help kick-start their careers by giving them jobs. "WhatI want to do is open up those assistant living facilities and I want my classmates to run it because you know when you get out of college it's kind of hard to find a job," she said.

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The classicCyndi Lauper hit,"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," doubles as a mantra for MeganThee Stallionand her love life, with the rapper shooting down every dating rumor that crosses her path. In November 2019, Megan's appearance at a Knicks basketball game stoked social media rumors that she was secretly dating Tristan Thompson, the Cleveland Cavaliers player who was very publicly dumped byKhloe Kardashian. "If I ain't claiming him he ain't mine ...SIMPLE," she tweetedabout the drama, calling the buzz "a whole lie." It's interesting that Meganwas linked to Thompson, consideringher friend, Jordyn Woods, also saw herself in a now-infamous scandal with the NBA player, changing Woods' entire relationship with the Kardashian clanfor the worst.

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Megan Thee Stallion is primarily attracted to men, as any fan who's listened to her music and heard her NSFW lyrical innuendos, can attest. But, in addition to rapping about her "freaky" intentions while "texting with a bi chick" on her 2020 song "Captain Hook," Page Sixalso linked her to Chris Brown's ex-girlfriend Indyamarie in June 2019, claiming that the pair had been spotted together at an afterparty and had been leaving flirty comments on each other's Instagram posts.

Megan previously hinted at her fluid understanding of her sexuality in a 2018 interview on Angela Yee's Lip Servicepodcast. "I feel like everyone has always been a little gay, I think it was just more private then than it is now," Megan said. "I think girls think girls are pretty, so it's like ... 'Hey girl,' you know, you drunk, you might slip into that s**t by accident."

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Megan's college career hasn't always been smooth, with the rapper landing in hot water with one school's administrators for her attention-grabbing social media stunts. Before transferring to Texas Southern University, Megan previously attended Houston's Prairie View A&M University. In an interview with Rolling Stone, the "Realer" artist described the headache she faced when she was called into a disciplinary meeting over the twerking videos she posted with her friends.

"The ladies were super uppity," she said about the administrators that tried to discipline her. "They didn't want us to wear shorts. It was fu**ing summertime infu**ing Texas." Megan described laughing when the disciplinarians made her watch her twerking videos. "They was like, 'Is this what you guys want to be known for on campus?'" she said. "In my head, I was like, 'Yeah, we lit! What you mean?'"

Fast-forward several years, and Megan's twerking has helped her achieve her impressive levels of fame. Megan's knees have even gone viral because of her twerking prowess, with the Internet praising them as"revolutionary," and "made of Valyrian steel."It's something the rapper will openly brag about, too, like the time she gushed toGenius, "I love to shake my a**.It's like one of my favorite things to do."

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MeganTheeStallion's breakout year in 2019 was marred by tragedywhen in March, she lost two family members in the same month: her mother and her great-grandmother. "The best mom in the whole world," she shared in a since-deleted Instagram post (viaRevolt) mourning her mom. "The strongest woman on the planet. I can't even put complete sentences together [right now] RIP mama."

Some fans were puzzled when Megan continued to perform the month after the deaths, with several naysayers taking to social media to question Megan's choice to visit Howard University in April 2019 for a concert. Responding to one critical tweet,Megan stood up for her choices, writing, "Just [because] I'm not crying on social media doesn't mean I'm not hurt. My mother was a very strong woman and she raised a strong woman."

Months later, Megan shared an end-of-the-year update on Christmas Eve 2019 about how the two deaths continued to impact her, telling fans in a deleted Instagram video (viaVibe)that "the pain doesn't last forever." She also added in the same video, "This year I lost my mom and my [great-grandmother] in the same month. Although all these positive things have been happening to me, and I've been trying to do good, been trying to keep a smile on my face, stay strong, to stay happy for me and my other grandmother and the rest of my family, it's pretty hard."

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Megan often refers to herself as a "hot girl" in her lyrics and on social media, where her Twitter username is "Hot GirlMeg." Thisfamously evolved into her "Hot Girl Summer" catchphrase, which was hailed by the Internet as the best meme of summer 2019, and eventually resulted inMegan making a song of the same name withNicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign.But prior to that, Megan hadalready christened her fans as "Hotties," telling Allure in an interview that her fanbase chose the name in a social media poll in 2017. "I'm a hot girl," she said. "It's only right that [my fans] be hotties."

Unlike other celebs who choose to become less accessible once they ascend to stardom, Megan spent her 2019 "Hot GirlSummer" turning up with her fans at a series of "Hottie Parties," which gave attendees the chance to party alongside the rapper in cities like Austin and New York.

Megan even offered financial assistance to her "healthcare Hotties" in an April 2020 tweet, inviting "all [her] hotties that need a lil extra cash during this crazy time" to share their virtual payment information for a chance to receive some cash.

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In addition to studying health administration, Megan The Stallion makes it known to her fans that she cares about the Earth, too, demonstrating her interest in saving the environment in her social media posts.

In June 2019, she shared a list of tips onTwitterfor her "eco-friendly hottie" followers, including recycling, using reusable water bottles, and eating less meat and dairy. According to The Source, later that month, Megan continued her environmentally-friendly efforts by organizing a beach cleanup in Santa Monica that drew hundreds of fans, promising that she'd reward the attendees by "[driving] the boat" with them, her affectionate phrase for pouring liquor in participants' mouths."The Cali hotties literally cleaned everything so fast!" she tweeted from the beach, sharing a video of a packed crowd behind her.

Megan was modest, though, when asked byThe New York Timeswhether she'dcall herself an eco-activist,replying, "I don't want to put no title on nothing, I just live like this."

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Megan The Stallion is a woman of many names. Beyond releasing music as "thee Stallion," she also nicknamed herself the "H-town Hottie," a nickname that nods to her upbringing in Houston, Texas. There's also"Hot GirlMeg," her main social media username, a persona that she described to Good Morning America as "[her] party girl, [her] college girl ... [who likes] to wild out a little bit."Explaining this name further, Megan declared,"That's just me being unapologetic about who I am, not caring about anyone's opinions."

Next is "Tina Snow," an additional name that Megan toldThe Source is a powerful character that she assumes when she wants to transform herself into a boss."'Tina Snow' is my alter ego and she's the pimp and the mack," she said about the name, which doubles as the title of one of her 2018EPs."When people listen to me I want them to feel cool as hell. I want them to get in their act when they're listening to Tina Snow."

In 2020, Megan unveiled her newSuga EP, accompanied by the introduction of a new alter ego of the same name."'Suga' is the new girl," Megan explained toGood MorningAmerica. "She's me letting everyone know that I'm not perfect, and I [mess] up sometimes, and I be going through it, but I be getting through it ... nobody told you to be perfect, so stop listening to everybody."

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In addition to conquering the world of hip-hop, Megan Thee Stallion also has her sights set on Hollywood. The rapper is currently working on a "[script] for a horror film," explaining in aVogue video that the 1981 film Evil Dead is her favorite film of the genre and that she prefers movies that "semi-make you fall in love with the villain."

As for her preferred collaborators for her eventual film project, Megan toldMarie Claire that she would love to collaborate with Get Out director, Jordan Peele. She has no patience, however, for reboots of old horror movies, complaining,"How many times can you remake Halloween?"

Megan has already tried her hand at the macabre, creating and starring in the 2019 Halloween-themed YouTube seriesMegan Thee Stallion P.I. in HOTTIEWEEN. If that's not all, her die-hard fans are still waiting for the release of herFever:Thee Movie film, helmed by famous music-video director Hype Williams.At the time of this writing, the footage has yet to surface.

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When she's not recording new music, educating her fans on environmental best practices, studying for school, or working on her script, Megan Thee Stallion enjoys relaxing and watching anime. Her passion for the cartoons even inspired one of her minor alter egos, "Todoroki Tina," who wears a half red, half white wig.

Megan told Crunchyroll in an April 2020 interview that she enjoys anime because of the storytelling's themes of perseverance and strength. "I like how you see a character, and it starts off, he's not really the strongest, he might be a little weak, but he has to go through all this training," she said. "You grow with the character. You see all the trials and tribulations they go through ... I apply that to my life a lot."

As for her love life,Megan shared that anime has also informed her standards in men."One of the main reasons I really like anime is once the main character has a love interest, they are going so hard," she said. "They'll do anything for their lady." To all you potential suitors, we hope you're taking notes.