Tina Knowles sets the record straight: 'People have so many misconceptions about my family'

Tina Knowles is simply a matriarch supra each else. Best known arsenic Beyoncé and Solange’s mother, her ain beingness trajectory, chronicled successful her caller memoir, is adjacent much fascinating. The 400-plus leafage “Matriarch” charts her mediocre upbringing successful Galveston, Texas, nether the self-ascribed nickname Badass Tenie B; dabbling successful singing, sewing and beauty; and her tumultuous matrimony to Mathew Knowles.

As a moving ma arsenic good arsenic a parent fig to Beyoncé’s bandmate Kelly Rowland and niece Angie Beyincé, Knowles persevered to unfastened a hairsbreadth salon for nonrecreational Black women successful Houston. Her existent relation arsenic vice seat of Beyoncé’s haircare line, Cécred, was a no-brainer.

Knowles debunks her estimation arsenic a signifier mom, though she carried connected her matrilineal penchant for designing and sewing clothes, arsenic the stylist for Destiny’s Child. She besides gets candid, penning astir being diagnosed with bosom crab past summertime (she is present successful remission) and being subjected to an unwanted, invasive gynecological exam arsenic a teen — “I thought it was truly important to [talk astir it now] truthful that radical recognize however traumatic thing similar that is and that doctors request to beryllium super-sensitive astir thing similar that.”

Ultimately, “Matriarch” is simply a communicative of “generation aft procreation of women who made thing retired of nothing,” Knowles says. “The bequest of my grandmothers being slaves, overcoming, surviving and keeping their families together.”

This interrogation has been lightly edited and condensed for magnitude and clarity.

(One World)

Why was present the close clip to people a memoir?

I had been penning 1 for rather immoderate clip for my children and my grandchildren. My parents were older erstwhile they had me; I ne'er met my grandparents. I utilized to property my ma astir [my family] history. So I wanted to permission thing for my grandchildren truthful that they would cognize maine and their ancestors.

Now is the clip due to the fact that radical person truthful galore misconceptions astir my household and I wanted to archer the communicative myself and not person anyone other archer it.

It’s precise thorough, coming successful astatine much than 400 pages. How agelong person you been moving connected this and what was the penning process like?

I’d been signaling into a telephone truthful I had a batch of notes and a batch of recordings, but I really wrote it for a small implicit 2 years. Going backmost and remembering was casual due to the fact that I’m a storyteller. The hardest portion was cutting it down to 400 pages. It [started retired as] 1,000 pages!

Tina Knowles (pictured with girl Beyoncé) wants her kids to constitute memoirs themselves.

(Gilbert Flores / Variety via Getty Images)

Sometimes the stories of household members oregon radical adjacent to super-famous radical tin go inextricable from 1 another, but successful “Matriarch” your communicative and position is truly strong. How did you support your dependable throughout?

When I [was successful conversations] astir doing the book, I was adamant that radical would person to beryllium funny successful my communicative and my position due to the fact that that’s what they’re going to get. They’re not going to get the communicative of my kids. To a definite grade [they are intertwined], but there’s not thing that’s uber idiosyncratic oregon invasive [to them]. They’ve got their ain stories to tell.

Did your daughters oregon anyone other successful your household person immoderate trepidation astir immoderate of the stories you stock that person overlap with their own? And if truthful however did you attack that?

Every clip my kids were mentioned successful the publication I sent them [the pages] to marque definite they were OK with [it]. I was precise respectful of what stories were theirs to tell. They didn’t person immoderate trepidation. They didn’t say, “I don’t privation you to speech astir this oregon that.” Thank God!

Naming is simply a large taxable passim the book, whether that beryllium the misspelling of your maiden sanction oregon choosing your daughter’s names. How important was it to illustration the past of your household done naming?

It was precise important. Growing up successful a household wherever everybody’s [last] sanction was spelled otherwise was thing that we ne'er truly enactment that overmuch thought into. I became funny successful it erstwhile I was doing research, going backmost and trying to find my ancestors. How did it get changed truthful galore times? The archetypal spelling is Boyancé. It was truly absorbing to spell done that workout of trying to find it spelled similar we spelled it.

[Another] precise absorbing happening that happened was that Solange’s sanction came from a French babe sanction publication that I got successful Paris for 1 of my friends. I coiled up getting the publication backmost from her and picked that sanction retired of each of the names successful that book. I precocious recovered retired that my great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother and great-great-great-grandmother each had the archetypal oregon mediate sanction Solange. It blew my mind. The ancestors were speaking to me.

You constitute astir immoderate traumatic things successful the book, similar your aesculapian battle arsenic a teen and your caller bosom crab diagnosis. You notation that being successful the infirmary for your bosom crab treatments brought up immoderate trauma, but was penning astir those things triggering?

It was really precise healing for me. When that happened to maine arsenic a teenager, I didn’t speech astir it due to the fact that it was embarrassing and I had shame astir it. I didn’t bash thing wrong. I told my older sister that day, but aft that I didn’t archer anybody until years and years aboriginal erstwhile I dealt with it successful therapy and realized however traumatic it was. I thought it was truly important to [talk astir it now] truthful that radical recognize however traumatic thing similar that is and that doctors request to beryllium super-sensitive astir thing similar that. Being poor, radical don’t spot you arsenic human. They spot you arsenic an experiment. It wasn’t conscionable the racism, it was being mediocre and not having a voice.

If Beyoncé oregon Solange wanted to constitute a memoir themselves, what proposal would you person for them?

I anticipation that some of them volition due to the fact that they person specified absorbing lives and they tin animate a batch of radical with their stories. Writing your beingness communicative is truthful healing successful truthful galore ways, I deliberation it would beryllium a truly large acquisition for them. I deliberation everybody should constitute their beingness story, whether it’s published oregon not. Just to permission it for your kids.