Tina Knowles has revealed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.
Knowles, mother to Beyoncé and Solange, recently appeared on CBS Mornings to promote her new book, Matriarch: A Memoir, which released yesterday (April 22) – get your copy here.
The memoir is described as “a multigenerational family saga that carries within it the story of America – and the wisdom that women pass on to each other, mothers to daughters, across generations.”
Speaking to Oprah Winfrey on CBS Mornings, Tina divulged some personal news that she expands on in her memoir, sharing that she was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
According to Tina Knowles, she was scheduled for a routine mammogram during the COVID-19 pandemic but it was cancelled due to global lockdowns. She never reschedule the appointment until last year, nearly four years later.
During her screening, doctors found two lumps in her left breast – one of which was benign, while the other was cancerous and diagnosed as stage one. Knowles then underwent a lumpectomy in August to remove the tumour, and is now cancer-free.
In her conversation with Oprah, Knowles emotionally recalled her experience: “I’ve always tried to take care of myself and I was in disbelief.” Speaking on the lump that had stage one cancer, she explained: “It was stage one, which I thought was the earliest stage. When I told my sister, she said ‘no, there’s a zero’. So if I had gone for my mammogram, I would’ve gotten it at the zero stage.”
She continued: “Thank God it was still very small, hadn’t spread. It was a very slow-spreading cancer.” She shared that all of her daughters, including Beyoncé and Solange, showed up for her on the day of her surgery.
On how her daughters helped her through the process, she shared: “I was nervous, and so they just started joking with me. Solange pulls up this video of this young trans women who says ‘I’m very demure’, and she’s showing me this right before the surgery so I start laughing, I get out of my head.”
“I said ‘I’m just so happy y’all are here’, and I thought about the song ‘Walk With Me’”. The song is in reference to the classic Gospel track that Destiny’s Child used to cover. Tina added: “Michelle wasn’t there, Solange filled in and Angie sung, and they sang ‘Walk With Me’. It’s about God walking with you and protecting you.”
In October, Knowles suffered an infection from the surgery but was being awarded Glamour‘s Woman of the Year award and considered not attending the ceremony. “Beyoncé kept saying ‘Mama, you’re not yourself. Your health is more important, don’t go’. And I said ‘This is so important to me because of what I just went through.”
In a separate interview with People, Knowles said she is now “doing great” and wants her experience to be a teaching moment for other women: “I decided to share it because I think it’s a lot of lessons in it for other women. And I think as women, sometimes we get so busy and we get so wrapped up and running around, but you must go get your test. Because if I had not gotten my test early, I mean, I shudder to think what could have happened to me.”
Last month, Tina Knowles announced a tour in support of her memoir that’s due to kick off next week (April 30) in Washington with special guest Michelle Obama. The rest of the tour will see her visit Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, New Orleans, Toronto, Chicago, Brooklyn and London. Tickets for the US dates can be purchased here, while you can get tickets for the sole UK date here.
Meanwhile, Beyoncé, is set to embark on her ‘Cowboy Carter’ stadium tour next week (April 28). The pop star announced the initial run of huge gigs in February, before confirming further concerts in the States, the UK and France.
