Tina Knowles just opened up about a deeply personal journey. In a recent interview, Beyoncé and Solange’s incredible mother revealed that she was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in her left breast last July.
Can you imagine going through that while launching a major haircare line, Cécred, with Beyoncé and finishing your memoir, “Matriarch”? Talk about juggling a lot!
Roughly 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. For Tina Knowles, matriarch to global icon Beyoncé, that statistic became all too real last July.
In a candid interview with People, Ms. Tina revealed one missed mammogram nearly changed everything.
“I forgot that I didn’t go to get my test two years before I thought I had,” she explained. Like many women during the pandemic, her screening got canceled due to COVID. Only, she didn’t realize she’d never gone back. “I just thought I had done it,” she added. “So you cannot play around with that.”
She struggled with whether to include her diagnosis in her memoir but ultimately decided that transparency could save lives. “We get so busy, and we get so wrapped up and running around,” Knowles said, “but you must go get your test.”
“My doctor told me I had breast cancer. A small tumor in my left breast that was cancerous; the larger tumor in my right breast was benign, but it would also have to go,” she wrote in her memoir.
“She said I was Stage 1A, assuring me my prognosis was good. The next step was to talk to an oncologist and a breast surgeon. ‘We feel like we got this super early. You’re going to be fine.”
And as you’d expect, the Knowles-Carters didn’t miss a beat. Beyoncé took the news with focus, instantly shifting into problem-solving mode. Solange responded with comforting words: “We are going to take care of this.” And Destiny’s Child star Kelly Rowland, along with niece Angie, stepped in with love and support.
“My girls became my team,” Ms. Tina wrote.
Thankfully, early detection meant a better outcome. Knowles is now cancer-free and embracing a healthier lifestyle, eating cleaner, shedding some weight, and sharing her story with grace and strength.
