Megan Thee Stallion Says New Album Is Inspired by 'Rebirth' After Mental Health Struggle Amid Tory Lanez Drama

Megan Thee Stallion is in a new era of her life and her music reflects that. Hip-hop's H-Town Hottie graces the cover of Women's Health's May/June issue, in which she opens up to the outlet about how her "rebirth" inspired her upcoming album.

It's been a year since the 29-year-old rapper stepped back into the spotlight after staying out of the public eye following her testimony against former friend Tory Lanez during his felony assault trial in December 2022. After a week-long trial, the Canadian musician was convicted on three counts at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles. On Aug. 8, three years after Megan accused Lanez of shooting her in the feet, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

After the Texas Southern University graduate came forward with her allegations, the case played out on social media and even in music released by rappers not involved in the conflict. On his album, Daystar, released in 2020 and more than two months after the encounter, Lanez refuted Megan's allegations on the album's first track, "Money Over Fallouts," claiming that Megan and her team were trying to frame him.

Meanwhile, Megan called out false reporting, dealt with Lanez allegedly fabricating emails from her label for the press and suffered intense victim-blaming from the shooting incident.

"A lot of people didn't treat me like I was human for a long time," Megan tells Women's Health of the public's reaction to her speaking out against Lanez. "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."

The "Hiss" rapper confesses that she was suffering in silence, keeping up a facade for the public. "Before I went onstage, I would be crying half the time because I didn't want to [perform], but I also didn't want to upset my fans," she recalls. "I didn't want to get [out] from under the covers. 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."

Megan has been a vocal advocate for utilizing mental health resources. In 2022, the rapper announced the launch of the Pete and Thomas Foundation. Named after her parents, Holly Thomas and Joseph Pete Jr., who died in 2019 and 2011, respectively, the non-profit organization's website says its mission is to "catalyze resources to effect meaningful and positive change in the lives of women and children, senior citizens, and underserved communities in Houston, Texas, and across the globe."

Several months later, Megan launched a website called "Bad B**ches Have Bad Days Too," which provides users with links to free therapy organizations, suicide and substance abuse helplines, among other resources.

The site title is taken from a chorus line of the lyrics from the rapper's single, "Anxiety." The song, off her album, Traumazine, details the workings of Megan's mind -- from her insecurities, anxieties and grief.

As Megan's mended her mental health, she's put the same effort into her relationship with her body. "Working on myself made me get into working out because I needed to focus my energy somewhere else. I used working out to escape and to get happy," she shares.

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She's taken to her Instagram page to share photos and videos of her spending time with her dogs, working out, bingeing TV shows, and finding new ways to protect her peace.

"I'm in a space where I feel good mentally, so I want to look as good as I feel," she adds, sharing that she's taken that energy into her music as well. "I was inspired to create this album about rebirth because I feel I am becoming a new person physically and mentally."

Megan announced in January that she's coming out with a new album and going on tour in the summer.

"We're having the tour this year," she revealed on Good Morning America. "The Hot Girl Summer Tour is gonna be 2024 summertime. I feel like I've never been able to be outside doing my own thing during the summer, since like 2019, so this is gonna be the first time I drop an album on time for the summer. I do want to give the hotties the Megan Thee Stallion experience."

The rapper has since dropped two new singles, "Cobra" and "Hiss," both which prominently feature a snake motif that Megan describes as "healing."

As for the Hot Girl Summer Tour, the headlining arena tour begins in May and will find the Houston rapper performing in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the United Kingdom. Glorilla will open for Megan during the North American leg of the tour.

As a rapper that has always shown her vulnerability and strength in songs like "Cobra" and "Anxiety," Megan says she's growing into her ability to make music "that is still true to myself but also true to my message."

She adds: "I'm proud to still be here. I didn't quit. I want to see myself grow and be better than I am right now. And I will. I know I will."

Indeed, Megan has big plans coming up for her and her Hotties. After dropping "Hiss," the rapper claimed that she's got "4 more" songs ready to fire off in the future.

"I feel like I'm in such a fresh space, like everything about me is new," Megan told ET last September. "My attitude, my vibe. I feel like I'm starting a new chapter in my life. I think I've just gone through so much and I'm at a point where I don't care about a lot of stuff. I'm just so comfortable with myself. I'm like, 'OK, at this point, girl, what's the worst thing that can happen?' I'm just into taking risks right now."

Explaining that she's taken all social media apps off her phone, Megan says doing so has kept her from feeling pressured by the work of other musical artists.

"I don't have any inspiration from anybody out right now [because] I feel like as an artist, you see other artists doing things and it's like, 'Oh my god, I got to keep up,'" she adds. "I have no clue what anybody's doing, so the music that I been making, it feels good to me."

It was far from an easy journey for the rapper.

"I always like to think of myself as a confident person, I always [act] that I didn't care about much, I was nonchalant, but it took me to go through things where so many people were talking about me constantly, to where I had to realize, 'OK, maybe you're not as nonchalant and carefree as you thought you were,'" she confesses. "So, I had to take a step back [and] reevaluate myself. I had to get in a comfortable position with myself, and now I genuinely can say that I'm in love with Megan. I'm in love with Megan Thee Stallion."

Megan Thee Stallion's issue of Women's Health hits newsstands nationwide on April 23.

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