The rapper spent most of her childhood away from her father, making her closer to her mother. The situation became even more serious because when he was eventually able to take part in her life after his release from prison, the relationship was still not what it should have been. All of these experiences and how she was raised played a vital role in who she is today and the career path she took in music after her mother.
Megan Thee Stallion’s Parents Are Both Late
The question “what happened to Megan Thee Stallion’s parents?” has sparked a lot of interest in the public since the rapper’s recent rise to fame. Unfortunately, the answer is not on a positive note. Both Megan’s father and mother are dead.
Her father died during her first year in high school when she was fifteen. According to reports, he was murdered. She does not talk about his death often except to recount some of the things she learned from him in the short time they had together before he passed.
On the other hand, her mother, Holly, spent much more time with her. She lived long enough to witness her daughter’s initial rise to fame and was every bit the proud and supportive mother. Holly Thomas died in 2019 due to a brain tumor she had earlier been diagnosed with. But there was no doubt she lived a good life before she took ill. Megan Thee Stallion was 24 years old when her mother died.
Megan Thee Stallion’s Mother, Holly Thomas, Was a Rapper In Her Time
Only a handful of details about Megan’s mother are available to the public, but from the much the rapper has revealed, she took after her mother in the rap business. In her days, Holly, who lived in San Antonio, Texas, was also a rapper and went by the stage name “Holly-Wood.” This explains the amount of guidance and support Megan received when she chose to walk the same path.
Although Holly never got as famous as her daughter, she was able to get paid gigs that enabled her to care and provide for herself and her daughter. This was in addition to her 9-5 job. More so, she made several attempts to take her career to new heights and get more visibility in the industry. Chief among these was her move to Houston and the many studio sessions she struggled through while nursing her young daughter.
It is easy to see why Holly Thomas set the pace and guided Megan Thee Stallion’s career when she started penning lyrics. It also explains why the two were inseparable. There is no information about Holly Thomas having any other children aside from Megan. It is also unknown whether she was ever married or had other relationships with anyone besides Megan’s father.
Megan Thee Stallion’s Dad Joseph Pete Jr. was an Ex-con
Like with her mom, there is only a hand full of information about her father available online. She has not revealed what he did for a living and how often she got to be with him. This is mainly attributed to the fact that the relationship between the two was not as rosy and steady as with her mother.
We know that Megan Thee Stallion’s father was in prison at some point in her early childhood. This accounts for his absence at the time Megan and her mother made a move to Houston. The reason for his imprisonment is unknown, but according to reports, he was released from jail when she was 8 years old.
Being that Holly and Megan had already moved away when he was released, he made some effort to keep in touch. However, the distance did not help their relationship be any better than it was while he was incarcerated. Despite all of this, Megan has a lot of love in her heart for her father. According to her, after observing how he treated her and her mother, she has learned to set standards for herself and not settle for less in relationships.
Many had also taken this to mean that her parents got back together when her father was released and that they stayed together until he passed away in 2015. Although it was alleged that his death was a murder, investigations into it did not yield any meaningful results on who killed him. However, being an ex-con, many speculated that he may have mixed up with the wrong people while in jail.
Were Megan Thee Stallion’s Parents Married?
Although the identities of the rapper’s parents have been well established, not much has been revealed about the state of their relationship at the time she was born on February 15th, 1995. The mystery regarding the relationship between the two is aided by the fact that there was never mention of a divorce while her father was in prison or even after he got out.
While there are pictures of Megan with her father between the time he was released from jail and when he passed, her mother featured in only one or two of those photos. Some had argued that this means they were probably never married, and the relationship between them ended either before he went away or fizzled out while he was in prison.
If the above is the case, it explains why Holly Thomas raised Megan Thee Stallion all by herself with the occasional help from Megan’s maternal grandmother, who was also very present in their lives. No credit has been given to any other members of Holly’s family or the family of her father, as she has never mentioned them.
However, because she said she learned relationship lessons from how her father treated her mother, it is believed in some quarters that Holly Thomas was married to Joseph Pete Jr. until he passed away in 2010.
Holly Thomas Played a Vital Role In Megan Thee Stallion’s Rise to Fame
Megan Thee Stallion’s mother did not only raise Megan as a mother, but she also played the role of her mentor. Holly was a role model to her daughter as regards career decisions. When Megan was still a child, instead of her mom dropping her off at a daycare or school, she would take her to the studio where she was recording rap. This started when she was a baby and continued through her toddler years.
While Holly recorded expecting Megan to play around the studio with her toys, a young and curious Megan was soaking in the rhyme and rhythm of rap and developing interest in it. Consequently, she wanted to do what her mom was doing. At the age of 14, Megan started rapping and penning down her lyrics with the help of her mother’s old CDs, which she listened to over and over.
Four years later, she was ready to step into the light, and so she showed her mother the skills and songs she had developed. After a very surprised Holly Thomas listened to her 18-year-old daughter rap, she encouraged her to wait until she turned 21 to pursue a career as a rapper. Holly’s reason was that the lyrics of Megan’s rap were too sexually suggestive, considering her age at the time.
The wait notwithstanding, Holly and Megan worked together to enrich the vocabulary of her lyrics and style. Holly’s supportive nature also extended to guiding her away from labels that were out to prey on her skill and innocence. Reports say she managed the early part of Megan’s career.
When Megan eventually turned 21 and started releasing her songs and auditioning for Love & Hip Hop: Houston, Holly stayed watchful, offering words of advice and guide while watching her daughter’s fame soar. She also quit her 9-5 to better manage Megan’s entry into the music industry.
The Rapper Had To Go For Therapy After Her Mother’s Death
Lossing her mother was one of the most difficult things for Megan to deal with. She revealed how difficult it was for her to say ‘RIP’ to her mother on social media and referred to Holly Thomas as a strong woman. Coincidentally, Megan’s mom died when she was becoming popular for being an up-and-comer in the entertainment industry, and social media users did not fail to point that out.
One of the prominent people who voiced his opinion was Larry Johnson, an NFL player. Her critics soon made it look like the death announcement was a publicity stunt to help her gain prominence in the music industry. Megan, who was hurt, debunked their suspicion by replying to some comments where she made it clear that she had been working hard for too long will not have her mother’s death trivialized.
Her reply read:
She also revealed that her mom’s death so hurt her that she had to take therapy because she realized that when her father died, she was younger and had her mother walk her through the grief period. However, things were very different with both of her parents gone because she had no one to talk to.
She opened up on Peace of Mind With Taraji P Henson, how she had to pay a lot of attention to her mental health. She also spoke about how therapy is considered a sign of weakness in black families but said she did not let it deter her. She pushed on with her decision for therapy because she understood the importance of asking for help when you need it. To her credit, therapy helped her get back to her feet in no time.
Megan Thee Stallion Went Back to School In Honor of Her Mother and Grandmother
After high school, Megan continued her education into a tertiary institution. She got accepted into Prairie View A&M University, and in 2013, she started schooling there. Along the line, her rap freestyle and challenge went viral on social media, and she gathered a whole lot of fans for herself. She became famous faster than she thought it would happen and had to stop school to focus on her blossoming music career.
After her mother’s death, Megan was inspired to go back to school. According to her, her mother and grandmother would have loved her to complete her university education. She went back to school, but this time to the University of Texas, and in December 2021, she bagged a Bachelor of Science in Health Administration.
One of her major inspirations to complete her degree was her mom’s death. According to her, she did it for the women in her family who made her what she is today. Her mother and grandmother have also inspired her to open an assured living facility in Houston.
Megan Thee Stallion Named Her Foundation After Her Parents
The famous rapper has never slowed down in expressing how much she loved her parents or how much they impacted her life while they lived. More recently, on her 27th birthday, Megan Thee Stallion launched the Pete and Thomas foundation, which is named after her late parents.
The non-profit organization is her way of practicing how to give back to society, just as her parents taught her and would have wanted her to do if they were alive. The Pete and Thomas Foundation is geared towards running awareness campaigns about pressing societal issues while also focusing on providing help in the areas of health, education, housing, and wellness. It would also run financial assistance to random people chosen by the rapper at different times.
To kick off the first edition, she sent a surprise financial assistance to a senior citizen, a student, and a cancer survivor. Megan has no doubt that her parents are watching over her from heaven and helping her accomplish her goals with their voices constantly in her ear about what to do and what not to do.
