Tina Knowles says it became her “mission” to “protect” Beyoncé from the start of her career
Tina Knowles has looked back at the rise of Beyoncé’s career, and revealed that she saw it as her “mission” to protect the singer during the early days of her fame.
The 70-year-old businesswoman – who is mother to both Beyoncé and Solange Knowles – opened up about what it was like to see her children spend so long in the public eye during a new interview with Glamour.
In the discussion, Knowles recalled how she signed up to be her eldest daughter’s stylist as she started to make it big in the late ‘90s with Destiny’s Child. Looking at how Bey was catapulted into fame with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, Tina admitted she felt “determined” to protect the trio amid the global attention.
“Very early on, I started doing the girls’ hair to earn my keep, so that I could travel with them because I wanted to protect them—not because I wanted to go and be on planes every day, because there was nothing glamorous about it, but it was to protect my kids,” she told the outlet.
“The industry can chew you up and spit you out. And I was determined that there were not going to be certain elements around them and that they weren’t going to get eaten up by that. It just became my mission. Those are your kids, and you want to protect them and they need protection. Trust me, they need it.”
She also went on to recall how the thing she is most proud of is her daughters’ abilities to remain disciplined in their careers, and not let the pressures of fame go to their heads.
“There are so many proud moments, and it might sound cliché, but it’s the truest statement I could ever make: I’m the most proud when they do something that is artful that they love, but that also has good repercussions on the world,” she said. “After a while, you get kind of used to the big moments, but those kinds of moments are really, really different.”
“I’m proud to say that I do see the things that I instilled in them—treat people well, do not get stuck on yourself—because we had some moments where I was like, ‘Listen, they can pick up their own suitcases,” she continued. “I’m most proud when they’re good people.”
The interview with Tina Knowles comes just months after she opened up about Beyoncé’s childhood earlier this year, and revealed that the pop star dealt with bullies during her childhood.
Before then, she hit out at those who criticised her daughter’s country direction following the release of ‘Cowboy Carter’.
The album saw Bey make history by becoming the first Black woman to reach Number One on the US country chart with her single ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’, however, some criticised the singer for changing her direction.
“We have always celebrated Cowboy Culture growing up in Texas. We also always understood that it was not just about it belonging to White culture only,” Tina wrote on Instagram in response to the backlash. “In Texas there is a huge black cowboy culture. Why do you think that my kids have integrated it into their fashion and art since the beginning?”
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
