Beyoncé’s mother Tina Knowles is stepping into her own spotlight with a brand-new memoir, and it includes a big revelation about her heath: Tina was diagnosed last year with stage 1 breast cancer.
The famous musical mom (who also blessed us with Solange) shares the story of her battle with the disease in her book Matriarch, which is available now. In a pre-publication conversation with PEOPLE, Knowles shared that she got the diagnosis in July 2024 after missing her regularly scheduled mammogram — a crucial screening that she now says “you cannot play around with.”
“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,” Knowles said.
If that sounds familiar, you might be thinking of our very own Katie’s personal breast cancer story. She’d let too much time go by since her last mammogram, and if not for a reminder during an appointment with her gynecologist, she might not have caught the disease so early.
In Matriarch, Knowles writes that Beyoncé “took it well” when she got the news: “I could already feel her mind racing, focusing on this as a task to tackle with precision,” Knowles recalls. Solange, meanwhile, offered comforting words: “Mom, we are going to take care of this.”
Knowles told PEOPLE that putting her diagnosis into the memoir was a big decision, but one she’s ultimately happy to have made.
“I struggled with whether I would share that journey 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 explained. “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.”
Today, her health has vastly improved. Knowles says she’s cancer-free, has been eating better, and has even lost weight through her wellness journey. “I want to give people hope,” she said. “What scares me now is not making the best of every day that I have left in this life.”
This news isn’t the first time the Knowles family has been touched by breast cancer: Mathew Knowles, Tina’s ex-husband and father to Beyoncé and Solange, was also diagnosed with the disease in 2019. (Yes, men can get breast cancer, too.) Mathew spoke to KCM about his diagnosis earlier this year as part of his partnership with 23andMe, and he advocated for genetic testing to understand one’s cancer risk. “I knew something wasn’t right,” he told us. “But so many men don’t recognize the warning signs until it’s too late.”
But it’s important to remember that women can miss important signs, too. In fact, if you have dense breast tissue (like Katie), a mammogram may not be enough to catch cancer in its early stages. Here’s what you should know about considering additional screening.
