Megan Thee Stallion was inspired by her late mother and found the strength to open up in the new Prime Video documentary ‘Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words’.

Directed by Nneka Onuorah, the film captures the rapper (real name Megan Pete) dealing with grief, the death of her mother and manager Holly Thomas from cancer in 2019 and mental health issues, including thoughts of suicide. The document also details Tory Lanez’s conviction after he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting her in a roadside attack in 2020.

“I really feel like I got a lot of strength from my mom,” Megan told me Wednesday night at the documentary’s premiere at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. “I know my mom was super outspoken and super tough, and I feel like when I found my mom’s voice within myself, I was like, ‘Go out and tell those people exactly who you are.’ That is what we are doing today.”

Onuorah said Megan was “initially hesitant” when they started filming two years ago. “Sometimes she wouldn’t show up for filming,” Onuorah said. “One time we had to hit each other on the side at three in the morning. She said, ‘Hey, come to the studio.’ I met her in the studio and I was like, ‘Look man, I’m not here to hurt you. I am here to support you as a woman. And I know it’s hard here, but I really want to see you blossom, and I really want to see your story told from your perspective.” And she agreed.”

The two spent many hours alone together. Onuorah often performed double duty as director and cameraman. “Getting Megan to open up meant I had to open up,” she said. “I literally opened my soul to her. I usually have a crew that I manage to film the artist. But in this case I told her, ‘I’m staying with you. I’m going to film your travels and when you’re at home or in your car, I’ll be there.’ I would give her myself.

“I was aware that I was pushing her too far,” she continued. “I always contacted her. I felt a little where she was. That’s why I was there all the time. But when I had to push, I pushed and said, ‘Come on, we have to do this. I’m here with you.’ So sometimes it was just linking arm to arm and just saying, ‘I got your girl.’

“Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words,” presented by Amazon MGM Studios, is a production of TIME Studios and Roc Nation in association with Nneka Productions.

IMAX partnered with Amazon Prime Video to premiere the film simultaneously at the TCL Chinese Theater and 10 other IMAX theaters in the US on Wednesday.

“Megan Thee Stallion: In Her Words” is now available on Prime Video.

See more photos from the purple carpet premiere below.