Megan Thee Stallion Said She’s Getting Her Degree to Make Her Mom Proud

• Megan Thee Stallion lost her mom, Holly Thomas (opens in new tab), to a brain tumor in March 2019.
• Speaking to People, Meg revealed one of her primary motivations for completing her degree in healthcare administration is to make her mom proud.
• "I’m doing it for me, but I’m also doing it for the women in my family who made me who I am today," she said.

Megan Thee Stallion suffered a series of devastating losses in 2019: in March, her mom, Holly Thomas, died from a brain tumor, and shortly afterwards, she lost her grandmother. Both women continue to inspire her to get her bachelor's degree in healthcare administration, Meg recently told (opens in new tab) People. "I want to get my degree because I really want my mom to be proud," she said. "I’m doing it for me, but I’m also doing it for the women in my family who made me who I am today."

Meg is taking part-time courses online at Texas Southern University while pursuing her increasingly stratospheric music career—a drive she inherited from her mom and grandmothers. "My daddy passed away when I was 15, so my mama was still going hard taking care of us. If we were going through money problems, my mother and my two [maternal] grandmothers always made sure I didn’t know. We could’ve been struggling, but they made it work," she said, as People reports (opens in new tab).

"I’ve always seen strong women making it work, so I’ve always wanted to have that same drive the women in my family have," Meg continued. "I know I get a lot of my strength from my mother and both of my grandmothers.”

In her cover interview with  (opens in new tab)Marie Claire (opens in new tab) earlier this year, Meg explained that her mom, who was also a rapper, had a significant influence on her own career (opens in new tab). "I would see her fit in writing after work and before work," she said. "I'm used to seeing that work ethic."

Selim Bouab, A&R executive at 300 Entertainment, told Marie Claire that Meg's work ethic mirrors her mom's. "When the drama happened around the loss of her mom and great-grandma, we asked her if she wanted to cancel some days, and she said, 'My mom wouldn’t want that,'" Bouab said. "The day after the funeral, she went and did a radio show, and she hasn’t stopped working ever since."

For more stories like this, including celebrity news, beauty and fashion advice, savvy political commentary, and fascinating features, sign up for the Marie Claire newsletter.

subscribe here