ABC13's Melanie Lawson sits down with Tina Knowles as musical matriarch shares her own story

Tina Knowles, known as "Miss Tina," shared everything from her breast cancer diagnosis to her divorce from mogul Mathew Knowles.

ByMelanie Lawson

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

ABC13's one on-one with Houston matriarch Tina Knowles

She's known as Queen Bey and Solange's mother, but hear from the true matriarch behind the power.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- She's often identified as Beyoncé and Solange's mom, but there's a lot more to Tina Knowles. After years of being the power behind their explosive concerts, she is taking the stage on her own to talk about her new book, " Matriarch."

ABC13's Melanie Lawson spoke exclusively to the woman known as "Miss Tina" about her life, her work, and her family.

She says the idea for a book first came from a conversation with her famous daughter after she started researching their ancestors.

"One day, Beyoncé was telling me that I needed to leave these stories for (the) six grandchildren," Knowles said. "And I thought, wow, I need to do that."

"So it started as me, just leaving it for my grandchildren," she continues, "And then it evolved into a memoir."

Knowles wanted to have control over the content.

"It's really important for me to tell my story, and not someone else to tell it. Yeah, obviously, in my family, people are making up stories and lies every day," she said.

Knowles' book starts with memories of growing up in a segregated Galveston and then Houston. But while Black kids weren't allowed to go to most beaches, she remembers it as a happy childhood, protected by her family. Then, she began looking into her family history.

"As I delved into it, I realized that her mother and the mother before her, I just came from a line of very strong, capable women," she said. "I've come from a long line of seamstresses."

However, there are some stunning revelations in her book that she wants to share with other women.

Knowles has always been such a private person, so it was shocking to many of her fans to hear that she was diagnosed with cancer last year.

"So I went in, and they found it and asked me, 'When did you have your last mammogram? 'I realized that during the pandemic, I'd missed it, and when I went in, I had stage one breast cancer. What I found out was I could've had stage zero cancer had I gone in for my mammogram. So I kind of got busy with life, which women tend to do."

Knowles says she's now cancer-free, and ready to talk about her own life.

Another surprise in the book is that Knowles talked about her divorce from her first husband, Houston businessman Matthew Knowles, after years of infidelity. Though the two built a dynasty, Knowles says, "It was just time. It was time I chose myself."

The shocking news that he'd fathered a child with another woman was a bridge too far, Knowles said, even though they'd reconciled for a brief time.

"The final straw was, you know, we have been getting along really well, and then there was a final straw. There was a final bout of infidelity, and that was just like, OK, that's it, and you know, I just never really looked back from that time."

Miss Tina, as she's affectionately known, has embraced her role as matriarch of her superstar family, as the force behind the scenes. With very little money, she used her seamstress skills to design costumes and do hair and makeup for her girls in Destiny's Child, even when some were critical of her outfits.

"I mean, I grew up poor, but my mom and grandmother taught me how to do a lot with just a little and turn it into something beautiful. Which is one of the reasons I started designing clothes for the girls."

While the iconic looks will be marveled at for years, Knowles says she looks back at some of them and questions them.

"Some of them were pretty outrageous," she said.

Record company executives weren't sure the outfits were appropriate. While other women on stage dressed to match the hip-hop world, Knowles opted for big hair and glamour.

"They felt like the girls looked like Motown," she laughed. "We like Motown. So that's intentional!"

But the bottom line? Knowles says even though the designers and the people in fashion were saying, "Oh, that's hideous. That's so terrible." The fans were coming up and saying, "Oh my God, when are you going to do a clothing line?"

Knowles would normally be with Beyoncé for the first week of her "Cowboy Carter" concert tour, as it kicked off last week.

The 2025 Album of the Year winner packed the house at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on the first night. But she's not getting a lot of love from the country music industry. In fact, many have been openly hostile.

"It's sad to me, but it didn't surprise me that she was not welcomed with open arms because you know she had that experience going to a show and was not welcomed at all," Knowles said. "(This) motivated her to delve into the history and to do that record because that record is history."

Melanie Lawson's full interview with Tina Knowles is available in the video player at the top of this article.

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