Tina Knowles opened up in a powerful and emotional reveal about her health. In a cover story for PEOPLE and an emotional sit-down with “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King, she shared that she was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in July 2024 after doctors found two tumors during a delayed mammogram. One was benign, but the other required immediate attention. “I've always tried to take care of myself. I just… was in disbelief,” Tina told CBS.
How COVID delays and a missed screening almost changed everything for Tina Knowles
What makes her story even more urgent is that the diagnosis came after a missed screening, a reminder that resonated deeply with her. “I forgot that I didn’t go to get my test two years before I thought I had,” she told PEOPLE. “Because COVID came and they canceled me... I just thought I had done it. So, you cannot play around with that.”
Tina underwent surgery in August 2024 to remove the tumor and opted for a breast reduction as well. Now cancer-free and healthy, she expressed, “I want to show people you can go through that and still be fly.” Her diagnosis arrived amid major life moments: She finished writing her memoir, “Matriarch,” and was helping launch Cécred, the haircare brand with daughter, Beyoncé. Still, she made the difficult but brave decision to include her health journey in the book. “I struggled with whether I would share that journey… but I decided to share it because I think there’s a lot of lessons in it for other women.”
Beyoncé, Solange and Kelly Rowland formed a support squad
Her daughters, Beyoncé and Solange, along with bonus child Kelly Rowland and niece Angie Beyincé, showed up strong for her both emotionally and physically. “My girls became my team,” she stated. Tina recounted a moment of levity before surgery when Solange played a viral video to calm her nerves. “I started laughing. I got out of my head,” she recalled. As she prepared to be wheeled in, Solange and Angie sang “Walk With Me,” a gospel song of faith and protection, bringing her to tears. “And I went in there feeling just like God has got me.”
Knowles was later told that had she not missed her routine mammogram, the cancer may have been caught even earlier at stage 0. “I shudder to think what could have happened to me,” she admitted. She also noted that, while her ex-husband Mathew Knowles carries the BRCA2 gene and has battled breast cancer himself, she does not carry any known breast cancer genes, nor does she have a family history of the disease.
Post-surgery struggles, a Glamour award, and a renewed outlook on life
Despite post-surgical complications, including a serious infection that nearly kept her from attending Glamour’s 2024 Women of the Year event, Knowles pushed through with Beyoncé stepping in to remind her to prioritize her healing. “’Mama, you’re not yourself,’” Knowles remembered Beyoncé telling her. “’Your health is more important.’”
Now, at 71, Tina Knowles is embracing her new lease on life. “I’m healthier, eating better, I lost weight,” she said. “I want to give people hope… What scares me now is not making the best of every day that I have left in this life.”