Why Megan Thee Stallion’s Family History is so Heartbreaking

Megan Thee Stallion may be known as the fun rapper who can spit serious bars, pop out with one brand deal after another, and twerk better than anyone else on the planet. But underneath her charismatic persona lies a sad family history that arguably influences how she moves to this day.

The “Girls in the Hood” rapper recently touched on a bit of that history during a new interview with Entrepreneur Magazine. But there’s more to know about her family, specifically as it relates to her mother, father and grandmother. And believe us when we say, their stories are heartbreaking.

What Happened to Megan Thee Stallion’s Dad?

The rapper, born Megan Jovon Ruth Pete, is the daughter of Holly Thomas and Joseph Pete Jr. However, Megan’s father wasn’t a part of her young life, as he was behind bars. After his release, the two began the process of rebuilding their relationship with the “Bigger in Texas” rapper, describing him to Rolling Stone in 2020 as a “full-time” hustler and later to Marie Claire as her “best friend.”

“My dad was definitely my best friend, but for the first eight years of my life, he was in jail. When he got out, we were together every day,” she said of her father, who she credits for her high standards.

“I saw how he treated my mom, and I saw how my dad treated me. I have so many strong positive influences. I’m not going to lower my standards,” she explained.

Megan and her dad built a close bond. But in an unexpected turn of events, Joseph passed away after suffering a heart attack when Megan was 15, during her freshman year of high school, per PEOPLE. At the time, she had just started writing raps and had yet to share her talent with her parents or anyone else.

What Happened to Megan Thee Stallion’s Mom?

Holly Thomas held it down for Megan while her father was in jail, which led to the two of them cultivating an extremely tight-knit mother-daughter connection. But before Holly was Megan’s mother, she was a rising star in her own right, as a local rapper in the Houston area who went by “Holly-Wood.”

Megan has spoken frequently over the years about the impact of seeing her mom rap around the house and how that influenced her to begin her own rap career and maintain an impressive work ethic.

“I would see her fit in writing after work and before work. I’m used to seeing that work ethic,” she told Marie Claire.

She later said of her mom in an interview for Sports Illustrated in 2021: “I figured out I wanted to rap because my mom was a rapper. She didn’t know I wanted to be a rapper, but I would literally watch her be in the studio all day be like, ‘This lady is just everything.’”

Yet and still, Megan hid her rapping dreams and talents from her mom until sometime after her 18th birthday.

“I wanted to be perfect to her,” Megan explained. “I was like, ‘No, I’m not gonna tell her yet.’ But she would have these CDs lying around the house—like, instrumentals—and I would take them in my room, and I would take the beats and write to them in my room.”

After finally coming clean to her mom, they agreed that Megan would make her musical debut when she turned 21. Her mother then decided to become her manager and helped her with her career from that point on.

Sadly, Holly passed away just three years into Megan’s ascent in March 2019 due to a deadly brain tumor. The “Number One Rule” rapper detailed all the health challenges that transpired leading up to her mother’s death in her 2024 Prime Video documentary “Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words.”

“They had to put her under. She was just brain dead. So I stayed up there every day. I was spending the night at the hospital. I just was praying that she could shake back from it,” she said at the time. “Once I realized she wasn’t coming back, I was just like, ‘Damn, I can’t keep her like this.’ Because I know she wouldn’t have wanted to stay like this. So I had to make the decision to pull the plug and she just passed the next day.”

She later added that losing her mom, who was one of her biggest supporters, was a blow to her confidence.

“I was so used to my mama telling me what to do, and when life started getting crazy, I didn’t have her,” she said.

By the age of 25, the “Hiss” rapper had already buried both her parents. But in yet another twist you wouldn’t expect—that wouldn’t be the last brush with death she’d experience.

What Happened to Megan Thee Stallion’s Great-Grandmother?

Fans were once again sending prayers up for Megan after she revealed that she lost her great-grandmother just two weeks after Holly’s death. It’s unclear which side of the family she was on.

The “Savage” rapper has since spoken out frequently about her grandmother and her influence, describing her as “an anchor in her Houston community” to Entrepreneur Mag and a woman with strong values.

“She’d tell me, ‘It doesn’t matter where anybody comes from, or what they look like, or who they are. You should always be kind, you should always be nice,’” Megan said.