Tina Knowles Shares Breast Cancer Diagnosis (2025)

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Tina Knowles Shares Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Tina Knowles is opening up about her health.

The matriarch, who is mom to Beyoncé and Solange Knowles, recently shared she received treatment for breast cancer.

"I was diagnosed with breast cancer in my left breast," Knowles told Gayle King duringan April 22 appearance on CBS Mornings. "I'm getting emotional because it was like, you know, I've always tried to take care of myself and I just, was in disbelief."

Noting that she missed her mammogram during the COVID pandemic, the 71-year-old initially forgot to reschedule her screening, but ended up doing so last year, during which doctors found two tumors. Though one was benign, the other was confirmed to be cancerous.

"It was stage 1, which I thought was the earliest stage," she explained to King. "And then when I told my sister, she said, 'No, actually, there's a zero.' So if I had gone for my mammogram, I would've got it at the zero stage. Thank God, it was still very small, hadn't spread. It was a very slow-spreading cancer."

readBeyoncé’s Mom Tina Knowles Shares Rare Insight Into Superstar’s Life

The fashion designer underwent a lumpectomy to remove the cancer, sharing that her loved ones were right by her side when it came time for her surgery.

"All of them showed up in the hospital," she said, referring to both her kids and other family members, "I was nervous. And so they just started just joking with me."

Tina Knowles reveals her breast cancer diagnosis to @GayleKing, detailing the nerve-wracking moments leading up to her lumpectomy — and the special song her girls sang to her in the hospital: "I just went in there feeling just like God has got me." pic.twitter.com/aN0I82fcYE
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) April 22, 2025

Daughter Solange busted out her For You page to show her mom lighthearted TikTok videos and the whole fam sang "Walk With Me.” A hymn they used to perform when they were younger, it held deep meaning for her.

"They sung that song," Knowles shared of her kids, getting emotional, "and I went in there feeling, just like God's got me."

Months after her surgery, Knowles nearly missed being honored at Glamour's 2024 Women of the Year event in October due to getting a serious infection. And though daughter Beyoncé urged her to rest since her health was "more important," Knowles shared what it meant to show up amid her recovery.

"A lot of my life, I just refused to be recognized," she explained. "I would never take an award. I would never want the attention to me…and this was my saying, 'I deserve this.'"

For Knowles, sharing her experience—of which she also goes into detail in her memoir Matriarch—has proven to be pivotal.

"I struggled with whether I would share that journey [in the book] because I'm very private," she told People in article published April 22. "But I decided to share it because I think it's a lot of lessons in it for other women," she says. "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."

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Matriarch: A Memoir by Tina Knowles

Discover the deeply personal and powerful story behind Tina Knowles’ legacy—from her childhood in Galveston to the lessons she passed on to her daughters, including Beyoncé and Solange. If you’ve ever wondered where strength, style, and soul begin, this is the story you need to read.

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Tina Knowles Shares Breast Cancer Diagnosis (2025)

Matriarch: A Memoir by Tina Knowles

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