Tina Knowles was diagnosed with breast cancer after missing a mammogram

Tina Knowles attends the Glamour Women of the Year Awards at The Times Square Edition on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Tina Knowles wants women to stay on top of their mammogram appointments.

In an interview with People, Knowles revealed she was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in her left breast last July.

She told the publication that doctors made the discover soon after she and her daughter, Beyoncé, launched their Cécred hair-care line. Knowles was also completing the manuscript of her new memoir, titled “Matriarch.”

“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,” Knowles told the publication. “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.”

She said she had actually missed getting a mammogram at one point.

“I forgot that I didn’t go to get my test two years before I thought I had because Covid came and they called me and canceled me and they said, we’ll call you when we start testing again,” she said. “And I just thought I had done it. So you cannot play around with that.”

Knowles writes in her new book about how her daughters, Beyoncé and Solange, took the news.

Beyoncé, her mother wrote, “took it well, staying positive, and I could already feel her mind racing, focusing on this as a task to tackle with precision,” while Solange told her “we are going to take care of this.”

Her niece, Angie, and Beyoncé’s friend and fellow Destiny’s Child member, Kelly Rowland, also supported her, Knowles wrote.

“My girls became my team,” she said in her book.

She says she knows that the cancer could have been detected at stage 0 had she not missed her mammogram. Knowles said she is now “cancer-free and incredibly blessed that God allowed me to find it early.”

Knowles added that she’s now eating healthier and has lost some weight. Her memoir is currently available for purchase.