Beyonce’s mum Tina Knowles, 71, reveals breast cancer diagnosis after ‘missed screening’

Tina Knowles has revealed she was diagnosed with breast cancer (Picture: Getty)

Beyonce’s mother, Tina Knowles, has revealed that she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.

The 71-year-old, who is set to release her new memoir Matriarch, opened up about her health issues in a new interview, sharing that she was blindsided by the diagnosis.

She explained that doctors discovered stage 1 cancer in her left breast last July, after she missed her scheduled mammogram – and is using her platform to urge other women to get tested.

‘It’s important not to slack on your mammograms,’ she told People Magazine, sharing that she initially ‘struggled’ with whether to include her battles in her book because of her private nature.

‘But I decided to share it because I think it’s a lot of lessons in it for other women.

‘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.’

Tina shed light on her health issues in her new book (Picture: WireImage) Tina revealed how daughters Beyonce and Solange reacted to her news (Picture: Getty)

Tina, also mom to Solange Knowles, missed her routine screening during the Covid-19 pandemic, and didn’t reschedule her appointment until last year.

It was at that appointment that doctors found two tumors – CBS reports that one was benign and the other had stage 1 cancer.

She was later told that, had she kept up with her routine mammograms, they may have been able to detect the cancer at Stage 0.

In her book, the matriarch shed light on how her daughters dealt with the news, writing – via People Magazine – that Beyonce ‘took it well, staying positive, and I could already feel her mind racing, focusing on this as a task to tackle with precision’.

She revealed how her loved ones rallied around and became ‘her team’ (Picture: Getty)

‘Mom, we are going to take care of this,’ Solange told her, as Kelly Rowland and her other family members quickly rallied around and ‘became my team.’

Tina had surgery to remove the tumor last August, and also underwent a breast reduction – with her loved ones remaining by her side throughout her ordeal.

‘I was nervous,’ she told Gayle King on CBS News. ‘And so they started just joking with me.

Tina declared that she is now cancer free (Picture: FilmMagic)

‘I start laughing. I get out of my head. … Then I said, “I’m just so happy that y’all are here”. And I thought about the song Walk With Me, which they used to sing all the time.’

It was this poignant track that her family, including niece Angie Beyincé, sang to Tina before her lumpectomy.

Giving an update on her health, she added to People: ‘I’m doing great.

‘Cancer-free and incredibly blessed that God allowed me to find it early.

‘I want to give people hope … What scares me now is not making the best of every day that I have left in this life.’

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