In 2020 she was shot, left with bullet fragments in her foot after fellow rapper Tory Lanez pointed a gun at her and told her to dance. He was convicted of three felonies last year, but the aftermath of testifying has been just as challenging to deal with. During the trial, Megan said: “I wish he woulda shot and killed me if I knew I would go through this torture.”

Now, in a new piece for the fashion magazine Elle, the musician and performer described what it has been like to survive the traumatic experience. One of the most challenging aspects for Megan’s recovery has been witnessing others in her industry treat the shooting flippantly.

She wrote: “I could have let the adversity break me, but I persevered, even as people treated my trauma like a running joke. First, there were conspiracy theories that I was never shot. Then came the false narratives that my former best friend shot me. Even some of my peers in the music industry piled on with memes, jokes, and sneak disses, and completely ignored the fact that I could have lost my life.”

Late last year, the musician Drake, whose albums are staggeringly popular on streaming services, released a song with the words “This b***h lie about getting shot but she still a stallion, she don’t even get the joke but she still smiling.” The flippancy is sickening. Megan tweeted at the time: ’‘Since when... is it cool to joke about women getting shot!”

Megan’s words paint a portrait of how a creative industry validates, nurtures, coddles and exalts misogyny while denigrating its victim. “Instead of condemning any form of violence against a woman, these individuals tried to justify my attacker’s actions.” She has mustered considerable strength to keep going in the face of this – “I had worked way too hard to reach this point in my career to let taunts deter me” – but what she has shared sheds light on how a culture of misogyny can exhaust, alienate, and push women out.

It is bitterly unfair that not only did this woman endure a horrific, violent experience, but the attack has been used against her, to continue wounding her, on an ongoing basis. This second strand of attack – the misogynist pile-on – is a familiar pattern, visible in other high-profile cases of violence against women turned into entertainment and debate fodder.

In describing how overcoming trauma is an ongoing journey, Megan spoke of how the steps she has taken to better protect and bolster her mental health include stepping back from social media, establishing better boundaries and caution with who she trusts, and saying “no” more often. She’s also done talking about it, wishing to move forward now she has given her account in her own words. She might have been mocked by peers in the rap industry, but her words will undoubtedly speak to those who see reflections of their own experiences.

Megan Thee Stallion performs onstage during the CMT Music Awards in Austin, Texas, earlier this month (Picture: Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

“We can’t control what others think, especially when the lies are juicier than the truth. But as a society, we must create safer environments for women to come forward about violent behavior without fear of retaliation. We must provide stronger resources for women to recover from these tragedies physically and emotionally, without fear of judgment. We must do more than say her name. We must protect all women who have survived the unimaginable.” I’m rooting for her continued success and peace.

Megan Thee Stallion's shooting was bad enough. But misogynistic 'jokes' and conspiracy theories made her wish she'd been killed – Laura Waddell