8 of the Most Shocking Revelations From Tina Knowles' Memoir: Her Secret Cancer Battle to Her Affair With Mathew and More

In her new memoir, Matriarch, Tina Knowles opened up about her brief affair with her ex-husband Mathew Knowles after she initially divorced him in November 2009 for fathering 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."

Although they had not spoken for three months after the divorce filing, a "changed" Mathew reportedly visited her in early 2010.

"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," Tina recalled.

The 71-year-old businesswoman noted their connection felt stronger because they had to sneak around as they did not tell Beyoncé or Solange Knowles about their status, fearing "the kids would be so mad at us if they found out we were together again."

After they were almost caught in May 2010, Tina and Mathew decided to tell their kids about their reconciliation.

The fashion designer continued, "Beyoncé was more understanding than Solange, who I know was just being protective of me. 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."

However, their romance hit a rough patch again, leading them to finalize their separation in November 2011. They both remarried afterward: Mathew to Gena Charmaine Avery and Tina to Richard Lawson.

Tina also wrote about her nephew and best friend Johnny, whom Beyoncé called "Uncle Johnny" on her album Renaissance. The family member died of complications from AIDS in 1998 at the age of 48.

"Johnny lived life, which is different from just living," she said. "Every day, he found something funny or made it so, and you just couldn't be around Johnny without laughing your head off."

As Beyoncé's fans sang along with the lyric, "Uncle Johnny made my dress," Tina expressed her heartbreak as she wished her best friend was "there to dance with me because we would have tore it up."

She added, "But I would always see people in the crowd who reminded me of Johnny — just his spirit — and I would do everything I could to get to them. … I collected pictures of so many Johnnys."

Tina faced a health struggle after she was diagnosed with b----- cancer in July 2024.

"My doctor told me I had b----- cancer. A small tumor in my left b----- that was cancerous; the larger tumor in my right b----- was benign, but it would also have to go," she said of her secret health battle. "She said I was Stage 1A, assuring me my prognosis was good. The next step was to talk to an oncologist and a b----- surgeon."

She underwent surgery the following month after she received her diagnosis.

In an interview with People following the release of her memoir, Tina assured her fans she is "doing great."

She continued, "Cancer-free and incredibly blessed that God allowed me to find it early. I struggled with whether I would share that journey [in the book] 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. 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."

"What scares me now is not making the best of every day that I have left in this life," Tina, who reportedly decided to share her diagnosis "to give people hope," admitted.

Matriarch included Tina's positive comments about Jay-Z, especially after he defended Beyoncé when her label executives criticized her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love. He then added a verse to the song "Crazy in Love" and somewhat changed the bosses' minds.

"This is a smash," Tina quoted Jay-Z's comment on the album. "Every one of these records is a smash."

In the book, Tina also talked about her "daughter" Kelly Rowland, who moved in with the Knowles family one summer when the 44-year-old singer's mother, Doris, needed to work as a live-in nanny for a white family.

Per Tina, Beyoncé did not understand when Kelly began calling Mathew her "dad."

"I explained to her that Kelly seeing Mathew as a father figure didn't take him away from Beyoncé, just as Kelly hadn't made Solange and Beyoncé any less sisters," Tina wrote in her memoir. "It was an adjustment, and she accepted it, even growing to like sharing her dad. There is a long tradition of Black families expanding to include people as need and love have called for it, and that is just who we were."

Although Kelly has her mother, Tina told her she could be her mom, too.

"Kelly began to call me Ma, and I am continually astonished and grateful to God for giving us this gift of Kelly," the philanthropist added.

Beyoncé faced "horrendous" allegations about faking her pregnancy before she gave birth to Blue Ivy in 2012, which left Tina disappointed.

Calling the rumors "some of the stupidest s---" she had ever seen, Tina wrote, "I wanted to curse some people out and scream at these losers to set the record straight. They had no idea what she and Jay, and our whole family, had been through. It was one of the worst times that Beyoncé would not allow me to speak publicly."

Although she realized that not responding to the rumors was for the best, Tina was still reportedly upset by the speculation.

She added, "As a mother, the constant rumors make me feel helpless, unable to protect my children. I can work on anything else that comes about, but rumors? It feels out of my control."

Tina was left worried after Solange got pregnant at 17, she admitted in her memoir.

While she was concerned she was "too young" to become a mom and wife, she still wanted her to be happy. Thus, she told her daughter to have the baby but wait to get married to her then-boyfriend, Daniel Smith.

"He called us back, crying. 'She said, F--- you, and f--- my mama, and f--- Angie because I know they put you up to this,'" Tina quoted Daniel.

She continued, "Solange hung up in his face, and then disappeared for two days. We were scared to death, and even if a disappearing act was always Solange's way, I was so mad."

Solange and Daniel then tied the knot in 2004 but divorced in 2007.

After eight years of marriage, Tina "woke up with a clarity" one day and realized she needed to divorce Richard.

In Matriarch, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder voice actress acknowledged her friendship with Richard before they struck up a romance. She noted he has "great qualities," but they "didn't bring them out in each other."

"I just grew up at 69, and realized I deserved so much more," said Tina. "I wanted to be happy. I wanted someone to be happy when I walked in the room. If I stayed in this relationship, I would never feel whole, loved, cherished, and respected. And seen. Nothing else in a marriage matters if you are not first priority with each other."

Per Tina, she has no regrets when she divorced Richard, explaining, "I not only survived, I thrived. I'd like a companion in life, even to get married again, but whether or not I was with somebody, I would still be good. I would lead a fulfilled life, because I'd come to truly value the woman in the mirror."