Megan Thee Stallion has changed.
She’s a new woman—head to toe—thanks to a period of transformation, which included learning how to become the ultimate hype woman for herself.
The proof is in the clips of her workouts she posts on social media: She delivers fast-talking, hilarious voice-over about powering through booty-burning donkey kicks by renaming them “stallion kicks” and declaring thigh work with resistance bands worth it because “my thighs look good as f*ck!” Known for keeping it real and raw—especially when it comes to her ratchet bars—the aptly named Thee Hot Girl Coach and Mother Fitness is the baddie giving I’ve-got-this energy.
Megan, 29, playfully tosses strands of blonde hair out of her face as she declares to me of her ability to incite inspo, “I’m that girl.” But let’s be honest: “Getting out of bed to work out in the morning is a struggle,” she says. “I have to get mentally prepared. I’m like, ‘I can stay here for another hour, or I can get up and go work out and be a bad bitch. If I want to be a stallion and not a pony, I got to get up and put in the work.’”
This dedicated grind has played a massive part in her becoming an undeniable force in music and entertainment. Going from playing small gigs in Houston in the mid-2010s to dominating the charts with No. 1 hits like “Body” and the Grammy-winning “Savage Remix” with Beyoncé, Megan (born Megan Pete) has secured her spot as hip-hop’s hot girl. And with her third album on the way via her imprint Hot Girl Productions—and more acting roles on the horizon after appearing in the movie Dicks: The Musical and the TV show P-Valley—she’s showing no signs of slowing down. “I always feel like, ‘I got to do something better,’” Megan says of her drive. “I can’t be stuck. I can’t be stagnant.”
A few years ago, however, static is exactly how she felt. In July 2020, Megan was shot by rapper and former friend Tory Lanez after leaving a Hollywood Hills party together. The shooting, for which Tory was found guilty in December 2022, left Megan bloodied, unable to walk, and with bullet fragments in her feet.
Over time, she healed physically, but mentally, she suffered. “A lot of people didn’t treat me like I was human for a long time,” says Megan, who endured an immense amount of hate from fellow artists, strangers, and bloggers who questioned her recollection of the experience. “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.”
She suppressed her true feelings for a while, appearing to love every moment of superstardom. But as Megan’s career continued to heat up—her raunchy collab “W.A.P.” with Cardi B. became the first female rap duet to debut at the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in August 2020—so did her behind-the-scenes struggle. “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,” Megan says. The weight of her emotions eventually caught up with her, leading to what she calls “dark times.” “I didn’t want to get [out] from under the covers,” she says, tears building in her eyes. “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.”
Therapy was just the beginning of Megan’s healing. She also ended relationships that no longer served her and deleted social media from her phone to avoid trolls and doomscrolling. Then she was inspired to move her body as she started mending her soul. “Working on myself made me get into working out because I needed to focus my energy somewhere else,” she says. “I used working out to escape and to get happy.” Now, she gets physical regularly.
Four or five days a week, Megan sweats it out in Pilates class, at the gym, or at the beach with one of her two trainers, Emory “Joc” Bernard and Tim Boutte. For cardio, she runs up sand hills at the beach or spends 40 minutes on the StairMaster or elliptical. When targeting her legs and thighs, she does hip thrusts, goblet squats, leg extensions, and those “stallion kicks.” Weighted situps work her abs, and lat pulldowns, lat flies, and renegade rows strengthen her back.
Flaunting the assets she works hard for is a flex Megan takes pride in. “I’m in a space where I feel good mentally, so I want to look as good as I feel,” says the rapper, who has a sportswear collection with Nike. For her, looking good means having a bod that resembles a volleyball player’s. The appeal? “Strong legs!” says the 5’10” Stallion. “You look like you can jump high. I love that look.” On her way to achieving her ideal physique, Megan noticed that no matter how much she worked, she still had “this little gut,” she says. So, she leveled up her diet by scaling back on bread, tuna melts, and red meat and eliminating sugary drinks like soda, juice, and cognac. Today, she drinks about a gallon of water a day and reaches for tequila instead. When Megan realized she no longer felt bloated and her skin became noticeably clearer, she knew she was on the right track.
Modifying her diet wasn’t all about vanity, though. Megan also wanted to feel better. She’s eased long-standing stomach issues by consuming more nutrient-rich foods, like avocados. These days, she maintains healthy eating habits by drinking a strawberry, banana, almond milk, and protein powder smoothie or a green juice in the morning before she works out, eating pan-seared salmon for lunch, and having sea bass or cod for dinner along with tomatoes, sweet potatoes, kale, or brown rice; she snacks on cucumber slices with salt and pepper, and cherry tomatoes with light balsamic vinaigrette. But she’ll never give up pepper jack cheese and dark chocolate. “I am still a Southern girl, so I like to eat what I want,” she says. “I just don’t go overboard.”
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What does remain boundless is the lyricist’s power with a pen. Strengthening her mind-body connection through journaling has led to writing deeper rhymes and transforming how she shows herself love. By jotting her emotions down daily, Megan says she’s moving away from the tendency to “slip into using hate language toward myself.” Instead, she’s discovering “a more positive approach” to the way she speaks to and about herself.
Every morning, she reserves time to journal, meditate, pray, apply a hydrating face mask, play with her dogs, and listen to music. Currently in rotation are Linkin Park, Three 6 Mafia, Paramore, and UGK. “Alone time is something I need,” she says. “I like getting up and being able to be at peace. In my everyday life, I speak with so many people. When I perform, I take on so many energies. I like to recharge my battery. Let the start of the day be about me; then, I can give my energy to everybody else.”
She also finds solace in the shower. “I love the sound of running water,” she says. “I can clear my head.” Megan does a lot of her best writing in the shower. She feels most powerful when writing and recording. And her next album, she says, will be her strongest yet. “I was inspired to create this album about rebirth because I feel I am becoming a new person physically and mentally,” says Megan, who chose a snake as the project’s motif because it is emblematic of her renewal. “They’re feared, misunderstood, respected, healing,” she adds, a sizable diamond-encrusted snake necklace sparkling around her neck.
At the time of this interview, Megan dropped two singles from the project: “Cobra,” on which she discusses battling anxiety, depression, thoughts of suicide, and the deaths of both her parents, and “Hiss,” where she comes for those who tried to threaten her peace. On the first track, Megan displays sensitivity, while on the second, she’s full of fierce energy. Admittedly, she battles with showing both emotions in her music. “I’ve always struggled to figure out how to be vulnerable and still make music that is going hard at the same time,” she says. But she’s learning that showing her softer side doesn’t mean she’s compromising her strength, even when social pressures might cause her to feel otherwise. “I’m getting into a better space with making music that is still true to myself but also true to my message,” she adds. “I am very much a flower, but my flower has thorns.”
The sentiment is classic Megan: layered, inspiring, authentic, and with her strength to persevere in full bloom. “I’m proud to still be here,” she says. “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.” No doubt, an attitude like that is worth all the hype.
Photography by Ramona Rosales; Styling by Kristen Saladino; Hair by Kellon Deryck; Makeup by Lauren Child; Manicure by Ginger Lopez; Set design by Carlos Anthony Lopez of Winston Studios; Production by Kindly Productions.
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Jessica Herndon is an award-winning, Los Angeles-based writer who has contributed to Women’s Health, Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, Elle, The Hollywood Reporter, Essence, the Associated Press, People, Spin, Flaunt, Nylon, and Seventeen.
