Who Were Megan Thee Stallion’s Parents?
Before she found fame, Megan Thee Stallion had already made waves as a provincial artist in her native Houston, Texas. But it wasn’t until late 2018 when she garnered national attention, thanks to the slow-burning rap tune “Big Ole Freak.” For fans who didn’t know her sooner, here’s a cheat sheet on her early life, upbringing, and career beginnings.
Megan Thee Stallion’s early life
The “Hot Girl Summer” rapper (whose real name is Megan Pete) was born on Feb. 15, 1995, to Holly Thomas, a bill collector who doubled as a rapper, and Joseph Pete Jr., a man she described to Rolling Stone as a “full-time hustler.”
“For the first eight years of my life, he was in jail,” she said of her dad in an April interview with Marie Claire (Variety reports that he was jailed on weapons charges). “[But] when he got out, we were together every day.” She once described her father in an Instagram post as “the best dad in the world, my first best friend, my partner in crime when my mom would fuss at us.”
Her father died when she was 15 in circumstances that are not yet known. But Megan Thee Stallion has continued to honor his legacy and the lessons he instilled in her. She told Marie Claire in the same interview that he is actually the reason why she has high standards in her relationships. “I saw how he treated my mom, and I saw how my dad treated me,” she explained. “I have so many strong positive influences. I’m not going to lower my standards.”
Megan Thee Stallion’s life after the death of her father
At 16, Megan Thee Stallion started to rap, inspired by her mother, who released music and attempted to start a label from 2001 to 2007.
“Holly-Wood is the first female rapper I’ve ever known, I’ve ever saw,” she told Vulture in 2019. “So I’m thinking like, Okay, yeah, this is normal. Everybody’s doing this. So when she would take me to the studio with her, she would think I’m in the next room doing little kid stuff, coloring, watching TV, and I’m really like ear to the door, thinking, Yeah, uh-huh I’ma do that, too.”
By the time she got to college, she had started to record music and finally decided to tell her mother about her talents. “I went home and told her I could rap, and she was like, ‘No you can’t,’” she told Rolling Stone. “I’m like, ‘Yes I can.’ I started rapping and she was like ‘Oh my god! No, you not coming out ’til you’re 21!”
But when Thomas saw how serious her daughter was, she began to manage her. She worked closely with Megan Thee Stallion and often appeared by her side in earlier interviews before she died of cancer in March 2019.
Despite her success as a rapper, Megan Thee Stallion continues to pursue a college education, as she promised her mother she would finish. She noted in a March appearance on The Breakfast Club that she has only a couple of classes left before she obtains her degree.
Reflecting on the loss of her parents in a July 27 Instagram Live, Megan Thee Stallion admitted that she hadn’t gotten over them but acknowledged that she has an amazing people in her circle that she tends to rely on for support.
