
Tina Knowles Reveals Affair With Ex Mathew After Filing for Divorce: 'I Found Myself Falling in Love Again'

Tina Knowles revealed she had an affair with her ex Mathew.
Beyoncé Knowles’ mother, Tina Knowles, opened up about having an affair with her ex Mathew Knowles in her new memoir.

Tina Knowles initially filed for divorce from Mathew Knowles in November 2009.
In the tome Matriarch, Tina recalled the time she filed for divorce in November 2009 after discovering Mathew fathered a child with another woman.
“This was different from the other times I had chosen to leave him,” she wrote. “Now I had no choice. In the aftermath of that explosion, I kept pace with my life, as I had now for years, sticking to my routine and allowing work to numb and carry me.”
A few months later, “someone improbably steady presented himself for me to hold on to in my disorientation,” she wrote, referring to Mathew. While they didn’t talk for three months after she filed for divorce, he ended up visiting her in early 2010.

Tina Knowles said Beyoncé was 'more understanding than Solange' of her rekindling with Mathew Knowles.
“He’d changed after new counseling,” she remembered thinking. “I didn’t believe him, but he was persistent, proved he’d gotten help, and as he courted me, I found myself falling in love again. The magnetic pull between us, this cosmic cord I had tried to cut so many times, was stronger than ever.”
While she felt connected to her ex again, she recalled their connection felt stronger due to “sneakin’” around, as they didn’t tell Beyoncé or her sister Solange Knowles since they “knew the kids would be so mad at us if they found out we were together again.”
In May 2010, Beyoncé and Solange surprised Tina for Mother’s Day, which is when her fling with Mathew almost got revealed, as he was at her house at the time and snuck out. Tina eventually ended up coming clean to her kids.
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Tina Knowles noted Solange Knowles was 'being protective' of her when she rekindled with Mathew Knowles.
“Beyoncé was more understanding than Solange, who I know was just being protective of me,” she revealed. “They each loved their dad in different ways, and I sometimes felt my youngest was so much like her dad that she felt his moments of failing on a soul-deep level.”
Tina ended up filing for divorce again, and the couple — who wed in 1980 — finalized their separation in November 2011.

Tina Knowles refiled for divorce from Mathew Knowles, and their separation was finalized in November 2011.
“I clearly knew my relationship with Mathew was unhealthy, and it was the fear of going it alone that kept me stuck,” she said. “I had been avoiding Mathew lately, afraid to cut the cord, and he had retaliated by seeing another woman.”
Aside from her affair, Tina also shared she privately battled b----- cancer in 2024. She underwent a successful lumpectomy to remove the cancerous tumor and is now cancer-free.