Megan Thee Stallion says friendship with Tory Lanez initially filled 'void' after her mother died

• Megan Thee Stallion took the stand in Tory Lanez's trial on criminal shooting charges on Tuesday.
• During her testimony, Megan explained the history of her relationship with Lanez.

Megan Thee Stallion offered testimony in court on Tuesday, describing how a previously supportive friendship with rapper Tory Lanez came crumbling down on the July night in 2020 when prosecutors say that he shot her in the foot.

Lanez, whose birth name is Daystar Peterson, is standing trial on assault charges after Megan was shot after a party at Kylie Jenner's Los Angeles house on July 12, 2020. The details of the two rappers' relationship leading up to the shooting will be a key part of the defense's questioning, with an attorney for Lanez saying during opening statements Monday that Megan and a friend were feuding over Lanez when Megan was shot.

Lanez pleaded not guilty to two felony assault charges — assault with a semiautomatic firearm, personal use of a firearm, and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle — brought by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office in October 2020. Last week, Lanez was also hit with a new charge of discharging a firearm with gross negligence relating to the conflict. He faces up to 22 years in prison if found guilty. Lanez has denied shooting Megan.

Under questioning from Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta, Megan, whose birth name is Megan Pete, told the jury in the Los Angeles courtroom that she'd only known Lanez for a short period of time before the incident in July 2020, having only met him that same year.

"We used to be friends," she said, her voice almost breaking at the start of testimony as close to 30 people in the courtroom listened intently.

Megan, who sported a purple power suit and was welcomed into the courthouse by about 20 supporters with signs reading "We stand with Megan," explained that she became close to Lanez quickly, in part because of an emptiness she felt when her mother, Holly Thomas, died in March 2019.

"When my mom died, I tried to fill in the void of the family I was trying to create," Megan Thee Stallion explained on the stand on Tuesday.

"I feel like we got close. We used to hang out all the time," Megan told the court, adding, "we used to hang out all the time — drink together, go to parties together." She said the relationship was also intimate at times.

Lanez, she said during her testimony, "used to" be her friend. But the July 2020 incident left her "in shock."

Megan told the court that while in a vehicle with Lanez and her friend Kelsey Harris, an argument broke out when Megan and Lanez's sexual history was shared with Harris, who had a "crush" on Lanez. Lanez berated her and Harris, calling them "bitches and hoes," then shot Megan after she left the car, Megan testified.

"When I get out the car, I hear Tory say 'Dance, bitch.'" Megan said, as gunfire started. "I froze. I'm in shock, I'm scared. I can't believe he's shooting at me."

Megan added to the court that she and Harris were crying after the shooting, and that Lanez told them "please don't say anything."

Lanez's attorney George Mgdesyan said Megan and her friend Harris were feuding over Lanez, as well as other romantic interests. Though Mgdesyan has not pinned the shooting on Harris directly, he has identified the conflict between the two women as a primary factor in the case.

"Jealousy. This case is about jealousy," Mgdesyan told the court Monday.