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Tina Knowles is finally opening up about one of the hardest chapters in her life, the wave of rumours that surrounded her daughter Beyoncé’s pregnancy with Blue Ivy. In her new memoir, Matriarch, Tina reveals just how deeply hurtful and traumatic that time was, especially as a mother watching lies about her daughter go viral across the world.
The drama started when a clip from a TV interview showed what looked like Beyoncé’s baby bump folding strangely, and that one moment sparked wild rumours that Beyoncé had faked her pregnancy and used a surrogate. Even after Beyoncé gave birth to Blue Ivy on January 7, 2012, the internet wouldn’t let it go. The conspiracy theories hung around for years.
While promoting her memoir, Tina told People magazine that the whole ordeal was heartbreaking for her. “My family is so precious to me, and babies are sacred,” she said. “To hear people saying the most awful things, calling my entire family a lie, because for that rumour to be true, we would all have to be in on it, it was devastating.”
At the time, Beyoncé didn’t want her mom to fight back publicly. She believed that responding would only fan the flames. Tina respected her daughter’s wishes, but privately, the silence was heavy. She had to sit on all that pain while strangers ripped apart something as personal as a pregnancy. “It was the worst because I couldn’t say anything,” she said. “And those rumours just didn’t go away. People were so nasty. It was one of the most painful things I’ve experienced.”
Tina also touched on the darker side of being in the spotlight, how celebrities are expected to swallow lies, criticism, and hate without defending themselves. It’s dehumanizing, she explained, and even though fans often forget it, public figures are human too.
Writing Matriarch started out as a way for Tina to celebrate the joys and milestones in her life, but she eventually realised that she couldn’t tell her full story without addressing the painful moments too. “You can’t just show the highlight reel,” she said.
Matriarch, Tina Knowles’ deeply personal and honest memoir, is out now and available wherever you buy books