Serving up some sour memories on 2016's Lemonade, Beyonce presented herself as a woman scorned,
using her personal struggles as source material,
and emerging stronger on the other side. But the hit album raised more questions
than answers. Here are the secrets the Knowles family may have tried to hide.
Beyonce seems to love her work, but those close to her have hinted that
her career is largely due to her father's dreams for fame and fortune - not her own.
LaTavia Roberson, one of the founding members of Destiny's Child, told the Mirror that Mathew
Knowles' strict training and rehearsal regimen for the girls, even when they were as young as 11,
may have hurt their chances of having a regular childhood. Roberson said -
"It was ­rehearse, rehearse, ­rehearse, [...] he was like a drill sergeant. [...] There
was a three-and-a-half mile track and we would sing while we jogged around
it. Then we would go to the house and ­rehearse. That's what our days consisted of,
seven days a week. Looking back, working that hard did cost us our childhood."
Meanwhile, Beyonce's cousin, Angela Beyince, told Out magazine that she believed that even
despite all the grueling work she had to go through, Beyonce never craved fame, saying -
"I do believe that if she could sing under a secret identity and still affect people and
touch their lives that she'd rather not be famous. That, if she had her choice,
she'd rather take off her shoes and do cartwheels in the park. That's really who she'd like to be."
Mathew Knowles has been accused of pushing Beyonce and Kelly Rowland into showbiz with
Destiny's Child, but he may have also inadvertently made the then-underage
girls targets of harassment in the process. During a December 2019 interview with Vlad TV,
Mathew admitted that when Bey and Rowland were 16 years old they once shared a tour
bus with Jagged Edge, who's members were 21 and 22 years old, and said of the incident:
"I got a call from Kelly and Beyonce [...] saying that they were constantly
being harassed by two of the members of Jagged Edge [...] I couldn't have that,
and I literally had to put the guys off the bus in Baton Rouge, Louisiana."
While Mathew didn't elaborate on how he dealt with the issue further,
he later said in an Instagram video,
"I feel the need to clarify that I did not say the girls were sexually harassed
while on tour with Jagged Edge. What I said was [...] they were harassed."
Mathew added,
"The term 'sexual harassment' may imply to some to mean physical sexual advances. I certainly would
not throw the members of Jagged Edge under the bus in a world that we live in today,
using 'sexual' in part of any dialogue. I made damn sure that I was careful not to do that."
In 2011, Beyonce fired her father,
who had served as her manager since her youth and the Destiny's Child days.
"How hard was it to come to that decision?"
"One of the hardest things I've ever done."
While many saw it as a power move for Bey to take control of her career, others believed
it was a deliberate act to separate herself from her dad after he cheated on her mother,
Tina Knowles. It was also widely speculated that Beyonce had axed Mathew after an audit alleged
that he'd pilfered money from her - claims that he later denied. Meanwhile, there were rumors
that relations were so strained that Mathew didn't even have a relationship with his grandchildren.
Addressing the more personal allegations, Mathew admitted he was surprised by the content of
Lemonade, including "Daddy Lessons," a song that seems to reference him. However, he revealed
that he didn't know how literal his daughter was being on the album, telling WatchLOUD -
"Well, I can only speculate like everyone else, [...] And I think the genius in this
body of work that Beyonce has done is she has us all speculating and
she has us all letting our minds expand on her words and the expansion of them."
All in all, Mathew added that he doesn't care if
those in the press or any other people think he and Bey aren't close, saying -
"It's nobody's business how much I see my daughter or my grandkids,
that's something personal that I care not to share."
Beyonce and younger sister Solange aren't just estranged from Mathew Knowles,
they also reportedly have no involvement with his other children. They didn't even
attend his wedding to real estate agent and former model Gena Charmaine Avery in 2013.
Mathew told TMZ of the no-shows to his nuptials, which took place in the girls'
hometown of Houston, Texas, saying that previous engagements prevented them from attending...
Which may seem a little telling since weddings generally aren't last minute, and if Beyonce
decided she wanted to attend, there's probably not anyone who could stop her from doing so.
However, Avery is not the mother of either of Mathew's post-Tina Knowles children.
Son Nixon was reportedly forced to move into a trailer park with his mom, actress Alexsandra
Wright, after a judge drastically reduced Mathew's child support payments in 2014,
according to the Daily Mail. Nixon was allegedly conceived while Mathew was still married to Tina
and in 2014, the Mirror reported that Beyonce had never met her little brother. Meanwhile,
in October 2014, a woman named Taqoya Branscomb told Inside Edition via the Daily Mail that Mathew
was the father of her daughter, who was then 4 years old. TMZ reported that Mathew took a
court-ordered paternity test which determined that he was, in fact, the girl's father.
Not unlike her ex-husband, Tina Knowles has also apparently moved on. However,
according to documents obtained by Radar Online, her husband, Richard Lawson,
took Scientology courses decades before the two tied the knot. In 1990,
he reportedly took the 'HQS Course' - known as the 'Hubbard-Qualifying Scientologist' course,
which is considered a broad introduction to the religion. In 1997, Richard is on record as having
studied under the controversial church's 'Personal Values and Integrity Course,' which teaches -
"How to maintain honesty and personal integrity [and] how
to feel good about yourself and your life."
Sources claimed that Beyonce had serious concerns about Tina and Richard's relationship before they
got married because of his ties to Scientology. According to an alleged source who told The Fix -
"Beyonce is arguing with her mom because Tina is dating Richard, who is a practicing Scientologist.
[...] Beyonce is dead-set against the religion and is worried that her mom is getting sucked in."
So far, her fears were abated - Tina and Richard tied the knot in
2015 ... and this time, Bey and Solange showed up.
There have been rumors for years that Beyonce's camp doesn't exactly love her husband's one-time
mentee, Rihanna. The Barbadian beauty was rumored to be the subject of Bey's 2006 hit "Ring the
Alarm." Page Six reported that Jay-Z and Solange's infamous elevator fight at the Met Gala in 2014
partially stemmed from Hov's closeness to RiRi. Prior to that incident, in 2009,
Beyonce's own cousin Marlon slammed the singer on Twitter,
comparing her singing voice sounds to a hurt alley cat.
However, there may be more to this story. In an unauthorized 2015 biography, Becoming Beyonce:
The Untold Story, publicist Jonathan Hay, who was working for "Pon de Replay" songwriter
Vada Nobles, said he was desperate to get some press for Rihanna. Hay claims that he asked
Jay-Z for a quote about Rihanna to secure an MTV News story, but Jay-Z didn't provide one because,
at the time according to Hay, RiRi was not his first priority. So like a responsible publicist,
Hay lied and began planting stories in the press about Jay-Z and Rihanna allegedly hooking up.
He recalled that at first no one from the label paid attention, but when Jay-Z realized Hay was
behind it, Hov wasn't happy. Hay recalled that Jay-Z's reaction was not pleasant, confessing -
"Jay called me and said, 'Dude! She's a minor!'
It was true - Rihanna was only 17, that hadn't even occurred to me,"
He went on to admit that there wasn't any truth to
the rumors and that it was simply a stunt he tried to get away with.
attacked her husband in an elevator at the 2014 Met Gala in New York. After video footage leaked,
everyone wondered what the heck Hova did to inspire the ire of Bey's baby sister.
Every major media outlet was hot on the case,
but the trio put up a unified front and remained tight-lipped, issuing a simple statement to CNN:
"Jay and Solange each assume their share of responsibility for what has occurred.
They both acknowledge their role in this private matter that has played out in the public.
They both have apologized to each other and we have moved forward as a united family."
In their statement they also disputed any reports that Solange was drunk and
behaving erratically during the evening. They concluded by admitting that while
they may have had problems, they turned it around to ask, "what family doesn't?"
"I saw you - I saw how you played your games and
you played all those girls but you never did that to me - until now."
Yes, all families have problems, but Solange seemed like she was going for the jugular.
The alleged word is that she didn't like how cozy her brother-in-law was getting with his
ex-business partner's ex-wife. That would be Damon Dash's ex, Rachel Roy, who many think is
the "Becky with the good hair" referenced in a track called "Sorry" on Beyonce's Lemonade.
In her epic album Lemonade, Beyonce hinted that
cheating husbands may be something of a family curse that goes back generations. During the
visually striking album she takes much inspiration from her grandmother, quoting her multiple times
throughout, with an emphasis on taking bad times and turning them into something positive.
"For me it's so much fun to tell my stories through photography."
In yet another spoken word segment on the album, Beyonce shares her grandmother's lemonade recipe,
then refers to her as an alchemist because she was able to find a solution and break
the 'curse' of infidelity before passing it down to her daughter.
Beyonce also hints at her own father's infidelities in "Daddy Lessons."
All of this is in addition to Jay-Z reportedly cheating on Bey,
which he confirms and apologizes profusely for in his 4:44 album.
Beyonce and Jay-Z almost split after she reportedly busted him cheating on
her - so says one of Bey's cousins, who spilled the beans to the press.
Shanica Knowles told Heat magazine in 2016,
that their marriage troubles may not be over just yet, saying-:
"It's up to Jay to continue fighting for her
and prove that he's determined to do whatever it takes to keep his wife."
Shanica added,
"This has been a long process and I've heard they've had to deal with silent
separations and splits over the past few years. [...] This is now make or
break for them, but Bey's determined to do everything she can to make it work."
"I would not be the woman I am if I did not go home to that man."
In the summer of 2017,
Jay-Z confirmed that he almost lost his wife. In the rapper's "Footnotes of 4:44" video,
he claims he had to beg Bey not to leave him after he partied way too hard and way too often.
After the 2014 Met Gala elevator fight, reports alleged that Jay-Z and Beyonce's
marriage was strictly business. A source told Page Six that while they started
genuinely in love, it was branding that supposedly kept them together.
The unnamed insider went on to allege that -
"Business is always part of the equation. [...] They know they're
the king and queen of hip-hop - and really, all of music. Neither wants to lose that."
According to sources who further alleged that Bey genuinely loved Jay, their union was a come up
for her as a solo artist - and that Jay-Z was very controlling. The insider alleges that -
"They are business people first,
entertainers second. [...] Husband and wife comes somewhere down the line."
Indeed, The Carters went on tour together and dropped EVERYTHING IS LOVE as a team.
That August, Akon spoke out about Jay-Z and Beyonce's union, telling TMZ -
"Their relationship has been more of a business to the outside world than an
actual relationship. [...] Now to them it may be a relationship,
but it was presented to the world and it feels more corporate."
However, Akon wasn't shading the Carters.
Explaining that it's almost impossible for stars of their caliber to have a
private life without outside speculation - which is often incorrect and isn't anyone's
business - he believed their alleged trials and tribulations would inspire even better music.
Based on Beyonce's Lemonade alone, Akon was absolutely right.
In January 2018, Tiffany Haddish sent online stan sleuths crazy when she recalled a story
to Vulture about Beyonce getting bitten by an unnamed star at a private party,
further elaborating on the incident in a GQ feature months later.
The Internet was quick to point at actress Sanaa Lathan as the culprit, and the Beyhive swarmed,
despite Lathan's denials and Queen Bey herself remaining mum on the entire situation.
Haddish admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that Lathan's family was devastated, explaining -
"I'm super good friends with her stepmom and her dad, and they were mad at me, [...] They
were like, 'Why would you do this to the family? You know, black actresses, you guys have to stick
together, it's so hard for you guys to get work as it is, why would you try to ruin her career?'"
Haddish went on to insist,
"But I didn't try to ruin her career. I never said her name! I was just trying to
say how Beyonce kept me from goin' to jail that night. I coulda just shut my whole career down."
The Knowles clan never spoke out about the incident,
but Tina Knowles-Lawson showed quiet support for Lathan in February 2019,
when they posed for a photo together at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards Luncheon.
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