Beyoncé‘s mother Tina Knowles has revealed a battle with breast cancer, though it’s thankfully now behind her.
In a new conversation with People, the mother of two expounded on the news, which she recently revealed in her new memoir, Matriarch.
“I struggled with whether I would share that journey [in the book] because I’m very private. But I decided to share it because I think it’s a lot of lessons in it for other women,” she said. “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.”
The diagnosis came last July, when doctors discovered stage 1 breast cancer in her left breast.
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“It’s important not to slack on your mammograms,” she noted. “I forgot that I didn’t go to get my test two years before. I thought I had, because Covid came and they called me and canceled me and they said, ‘We’ll call you when we start testing again.’ And I just thought I had done it. So you cannot play around with that.”
Months after the dx, she underwent surgery to remove the tumor, as well as a breast reduction – and now she’s cancer-free.
“I’m doing great,” she added. “Cancer-free and incredibly blessed that God allowed me to find it early.”
As for how her daughters handled the situation, Tina said: “[Bey] took it well, staying positive, and I could already feel her mind racing, focusing on this as a task to tackle with precision.” And Solange said, “Mom, we are going to take care of this.”
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Amid her breast cancer scare, Tina Knowles reached a settlement with her now-ex husband, Richard Lawson.
In August, In Touch reported that Knowles, who filed for divorce in 2023, agreed to pay Lawson $300,000 as part of the terms of their settlement.
Beyond that, neither side will get any spousal support.
In addition, the settlement contains a non-disparagement clause, so neither Knowles nor Lawson will be able to say anything bad about each other, their children, or those childrens’ spouses.
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Lawson was Knowles’ second husband. They married in 2015.
Knowles filed to split up the marriage in July of 2023, citing irreconcilable differences. The couple share no children together.
At the time, Ms. Tina petitioned the court to terminate Richard’s ability to ask for spousal support, so he doesn’t ask her for money after the split.
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She also requested that the court restore her legal name to Celestine Knowles, as she’d changed it to Celestine Lawson when she first got married.
