Beyonce’s mom Tina Knowles reveals her cancer battle after missed mammogram

Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, has opened up about her breast cancer diagnosis.

The 74-year-old made the revelation about her health during an interview with People, published Tuesday. She recalled that in July 2024, she was stunned to learn she had stage 1 cancer in her left breast. During her mammogram at the time, her doctors discovered two tumors, one that was benign and another that was cancerous.

The news came as she was writing her memoir, Matriarch, which came out on April 22. Since she didn’t speak publicly about her cancer when she was diagnosed, she was skeptical at first about writing about it for her memoir.

“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,” she told the publication. “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.”

Knowles discovered her cancer after missing her scheduled mammogram. She said she thought she’d gotten her test done more recently than she actually had.

“Because Covid came and they called me and canceled me and they said, we’ll call you when we start testing again. And I just thought I had done it. So you cannot play around with that,” she said.

According to the American Cancer Society, women over 55 should get a mammogram done every one to two years.

Knowles explained she wasn’t found to have a predisposition to breast cancer as there is no history of the disease in her family. But she is doing well now after having surgery last year to remove the tumor along with a breast reduction.

“I’m doing great,” she told People. “Cancer-free and incredibly blessed that God allowed me to find it early.”

She reiterated how grateful she was to catch her cancer early, while urging women to get their scheduled mammograms.

“I didn’t know that there was a stage 0. I could have caught this at stage 0 if I had not missed my mammogram,” she said. “I want to show people you can go through that and still be fly.”

Stage 0 cancer is “limited to the inside of the milk duct and is non-invasive,” meaning it hasn’t invaded the breast tissue, according to the American Cancer Society.

After noting that she’s “healthier, eating better,” and “lost weight,” she shared what she wants fans to learn from her experience.

“I want to give people hope,” Knowles added. “What scares me now is not making the best of every day that I have left in this life.”

During an interview with Gayle King on CBS Mornings, which will air on April 23, Knowles recalled how the cancer took a toll on her body. She said that after she developed a serious post-surgical infection in October, she nearly skipped out on Glamour’s 2024 Women of the Year event.

Her family, including her daughter Beyoncé, urged her to take care of yourself. “Mama, you’re not yourself,” Knowles said her daughter told her. “And so she was like, ‘Your health is more important. Don’t go.’”

Following the cancer diagnosis, Knowles still wanted to go to the event, where she accepted an award as one of Glamour’s Women of the Year.

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