Tina Knowles opened up about her breast cancer journey, a personal health battle she has kept private.
During an interview on CBS Mornings, the 71-year-old mom of Beyoncé and Solange said she skipped a mammogram during the pandemic and didn’t go back until last year.
That’s when doctors found two tumors in her left breast. One was harmless, but the other was stage 1 cancer.
“I’ve always tried to take care of myself. I just … was in disbelief,” Tina told Gayle King.
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In August, she underwent surgery to remove the cancer and is now cancer-free. “I was nervous,” she recalled, reflecting on the day of her operation.
Shortly after the surgery, Tina developed a severe infection that almost forced her to miss the Glamour Women of the Year awards, where she was being honored.
Beyoncé noticed something was off and told her, “Your health is more important. Don’t go.”
But Tina showed up anyway. She said it was a moment she needed to own. “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,” she said. “This was my saying, ‘I deserve this.’”
