Personal narrative

Tina Knowles, mother of two highly-regarded artists, has released a memoir, "Matriarch," that puts her at the center of the narrative. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons) In her new memoir, Tina Knowles is placing herself front-and-center. Knowles, best known as the mother of Beyoncé and Solange (not to mention mother-in-law to Jay-Z), released a memoir this month that tells her own story to the masses. It’s a broad, sweeping tale that delves into a range of experiences, from entrepreneurship to heartbreak. The book, “Matriarch,” is billed by its publisher, Hachette UK, as “a revealing personal life story like no other — enlightening, entertaining, surprising, empowering — and a testament to the world-making power of Black motherhood.” Her tome takes readers on a journey from her upbringing in Galveston, Texas in the 1950s as one of seven children, to becoming one of the most respected and well-known moms in the entire world. Along the way, she shares some rather personal and profound truths about herself and her life – including surprising but heartfelt revelations around her daughters’ upbringing and pregnancies, and her own experience with her now-ex-husband’s infidelity. “He would cheat or act up, and I would say I’d had enough. He’d beg for forgiveness, crying and promising to get better,” she shared in her book at one point, adding that he would live up to his words for a time before “the same thing would happen again.” “But this is what married people did, I told myself,” she continued, before sharing the question that would often visit her rhetorically, after becoming a mother and before their 2011 divorce: “If I left him, what then?” It’s honest, and to some readers, relatable. But in an interview with NPR, Knowles admitted that she hadn’t sent out to write something quite so personal. “I actually was going to write a book about behind-the-scenes things with my career in the music business. But it just came out of me once I started writing – it was like I just wanted to tell my story.” The experience of baring her soul so fully was and is “scary,” she admitted. That said, “it's important to me to tell my own story, especially in my family, because there's been so many narratives and … so much speculation. And I just think everyone should write their story for their kids and their grandkids and their great, great, great-grandchildren.” Knowles added: “I wish I would have had that from my mother.”

Personal narrative

Tina Knowles, Mother of Beyoncé and Solange, Takes the Spotlight

The Story Exchange

Personal narrative

Tina Knowles, Mother of Beyoncé and Solange, Takes the Spotlight

The Story Exchange

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