Tina Knowles Reflects on Her Painful First Marriage in New Memoir
Tina Knowles is baring it all in her newly released memoir Matriarch, giving fans an unfiltered look at her life, love, and losses. In an exclusive feature with PEOPLE magazine, the 71-year-old matriarch of music royalty shares never-before-heard details of her tumultuous marriage to Mathew Knowles, father of global icons Beyoncé and Solange.
“Everything that happened in my life has happened to bring me to this point in my life,” Knowles tells PEOPLE, embracing a hard-earned peace after decades marked by emotional highs and devastating lows.
Now, the fans get the story behind the woman who mothered Queen Bey and Solange.
“There Were Already Problems in Year One”
Knowles married Mathew in 1980, and despite being a dynamic duo professionally, cracks in their relationship began forming almost immediately. In Matriarch, she confesses: “There were already problems in our marriage that first year.”
According to Tina, Mathew had a consistent pattern of infidelity. “The suspicions I had would get washed away by the fact that our love was stronger than a misstep… It was us against the world,” she writes. That blind optimism would become a recurring theme as she endured years of betrayal masked by reconciliation.
Tina’s denials are consistent with many people who have been victims of infidelity. Ultimately, they hope that the good times outweigh the bad. Obviously, there’s also mutual love that keeps couples together. Even still, people do hit their breaking points. Decades later, Mama Tina is boldly owning that the problems were there from the start.
Breaking Point While Pregnant
One of the most emotionally raw moments in the memoir comes when Knowles recalls being pregnant with Solange and considering leaving the marriage. “The marriage was deteriorating faster than I could possibly find ways or even reasons to make it work,” she writes.
She describes the volatility: “I had gotten used to these extremes — incredibly joyous half the time as we shared life’s adventure, then being disgusted and heartsick over how brazen his cheating could get.”
Despite the volatility, most know the story. Tina decided to stay with Mathew. However, her story does have a sense of irony. In recent years, Solange is just as known for her elevator incident with Jay-Z than she is for her music. It was heavily hinted that infidelity by Jay-Z is what caused the outburst. On 4:44, he subtly acknowledged this.
The Business That Bonded Them
Despite the turmoil, Tina and Mathew worked seamlessly when it came to building their daughters’ careers. Tina was the creative force behind Destiny’s Child’s unforgettable fashion statements, while Mathew steered the ship as their manager. Their shared passion for their children’s success created a temporary harmony.
“We were caught in this dance,” Tina writes. “He would cheat or act up, and I would say I’d had enough. He would beg for forgiveness, crying and promising to get better. But this is what married people did, I told myself.”
Ultimately, their marriage was bound together by their superstar daughter and her group. As Beyonce’s popularity went, so did the marriage. So, Tina and Mathew Knowles both presented, and were believed to be a power couple with a solid marriage. In the end, this wound up not being the case.
The Final Straw: A Child Outside the Marriage
Everything changed in 2009. Tina learned from the press that Mathew had fathered a child outside of their marriage. The revelation shattered her. “I screamed, ‘Get out! Get out!’ like he was some demon. ‘I hate you!’ … my world had exploded.”
That moment marked the end of their 31-year marriage. She filed for divorce in 2011.
“I was deeply sad, not about him but about the marriage,” she writes. “I felt like I failed. – I failed us, my kids — myself.”
That moment, that news breaking, has lived in internet infamy. Simply the media pressure, alone, was enough to fracture the marriage. Clearly, Tina was done anyway. So, when she learned the news, she wasted no time ending the marriage. As she states in the book, she reached her breaking point.
Freedom After the Fall
Though the divorce was painful, Tina tells PEOPLE that it marked the beginning of her healing journey. “In the early days I was very bad at balance,” she admits. “When I got to be around maybe 50, I started doing that. And when I got divorced at 59, absolutely. For the first time, it was about nurturing myself and healing myself.”
She later found love again, marrying actor Richard Lawson in 2015, though they would eventually part ways in 2023. Still, Knowles doesn’t view her life through a lens of regret.
“It’s been a rollercoaster,” she says. “My journey has been filled with, Oh God, so many obstacles, so many hardships, but it’s also been filled with tremendous amounts of joy… It’s been an amazing ride. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”
A Story of Survival and Strength
Tina Knowles’ memoir, Matriarch, is not just a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most iconic families in music. It’s a tale of resilience, self-love, and rediscovery. By sharing her truth—including the heartbreak, betrayal, and eventual healing—Knowles offers a message to women everywhere: You can overcome.
Her story is deeply personal but undeniably universal. As she put it best: “It’s just the truth.”
Ultimately, she has an interesting story and a unique journey. Tina started out as a regular, everyday woman and her daughter, Beyoncé, became one of music’s biggest all-time stars. In addition, her daughter, Solange, became a star in her own right.
Aside from her own marriage, her daughter would go onto marry Jay-Z. During the course of that relationship, Jay transitioned from rapper to full-fledged businessman. Mother-in-law, Tina Knowles, was there and had a front-row seat to it all. Somehow, it was her story that still managed to grab headlines.
Matriarch is available now wherever books are sold. For a deeper look into Tina Knowles’ powerful journey and how she raised two of music’s biggest stars, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE magazine.
