Megan Thee Stallion told a jury that she experienced severe depression amid a torrent of online hate from those who doubt that Tory Lanez shot her in 2020.
The female rap star (Megan Pete) took the witness stand on Thursday (Nov. 20) in her defamation trial against Milagro Gramz (Milagro Cooper), a gossip blogger accused of acting as Lanez’s “mouthpiece” to spread falsehoods about his conviction for shooting Megan in the foot during a drunken argument in the Hollywood Hills.
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Lanez (Daystar Peterson) is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for his 2022 conviction, which was recently upheld on appeal. Gramz has used her social media following to defend Lanez and call Megan a liar — and now Megan is seeking financial damages for the harm.
According to ABC News, Megan testified in Miami federal court on Thursday that Gramz’s posts “created a space for a lot of people to come speak negatively about me.” Megan said this led her down a dark path emotionally.
“There was a time that I genuinely didn’t care if I lived or died,” Megan told the jury. “I felt like no way I mattered. No way I should even be living. I don’t want to be here. I’m tired of waking up. I just wanted to die. I was so tired of being alive.”
Megan, who has been vocal about her mental health struggles, testified that she pushed through the pain. “I’m not going to kill myself because I’m not going to give them what they’re looking for,” she told jurors.
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ABC News reports that Megan’s testimony also went into her actions following the shooting in 2020. She initially told police that the wound on her foot was from stepping on glass — a fact that Gramz and other Lanez supporters have often seized upon in calling her a liar.
Reiterating her earlier testimony from Lanez’s criminal trial, Megan said Thursday that she was initially trying to protect Lanez from police brutality in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder.
“Even though he hurt me, I still didn’t want to see him arrested or shot by police,” Pete said.
Megan will return to the witness stand for more testimony on Friday (Nov. 21).
Lanez is not testifying live in the trial. He was supposed to give a videotaped deposition for the jury to watch, but he repeatedly refused to cooperate with the questioning and was held in contempt of court.
