Tina Knowles Recalls Taking Daughters Beyoncé and Solange to See a Therapist When They Were Children

Tina said therapy brought the two siblings closer together at a time when they "could've gone in different directions"

NEED TO KNOW

• Tina Knowles took her daughters, Beyoncé and Solange Knowles, to therapy when they were children to encourage their sibling bond
• Tina faced criticism from her family for seeking therapy, but believed it was crucial for her daughters’ relationship
• Beyoncé and Solange remain close today, which Tina credits to early therapy and continuing to break the stigma around mental health

Tina Knowles is opening up about why she took her daughters, Beyoncé and Solange Knowles, to therapy when they were children to improve their sibling dynamic.

Tina, 72, appeared at the 2026 L.A. Times Festival of Books in Los Angeles on April 18. During her panel conversation, she was asked what it was like raising the two powerhouse musicians under one roof.

"Beyoncé was this little superstar at 7 or 8 years old," Tina recalled. "She was winning all these talent competitions. She had this little sister come along. I think she was like 11 then, and she was getting super, super popular. Her sister felt like everything was about her."

She added, "In all families, if any of you have kids with an age difference, especially two girls, they start kind of going apart at 10 because the older girl has her own friends. She don't want to be bothered with that little 5-year-old running around, getting all in her business and her things."

As Beyoncé, now 44, was the older sister, Tina noticed that she was getting "irritated" with Solange, now 39. Meanwhile, Solange didn't understand why their bond was changing.

"The more she didn't want her around, the more sad Solange became," Tina explained. "I wanted her to be sensitive to the fact that she was this little local star and that her sister had to deal with a whole bunch of stuff. … I wanted them to be close."

Around this time, Tina had a client at her hair salon who was a therapist. She asked the client to recommend a child therapist who could help Beyoncé and Solange navigate their relationship.

"I took my kids to therapy, and my family did not like it," Tina recalled. "They were, especially in Black families, they were like, 'You gonna make those kids crazy.' It opened Beyoncé's eyes because she was like, 'This is my little sister. We're always gonna be close. I'm gonna take care of her and I'm not gonna let the age difference get between us.' "

"So, she was much kinder, and they've been close ever since," she added about how therapy helped Beyoncé and Solange. "Like, they could've gone in different directions, but I was so afraid of that, and I always wanted them to be close. And so even though it was way ahead of the curve with people with therapy, it was the best thing I could have done for them."

Even with the therapy having a positive impact on Tina's daughters, not everyone understood her decision.

"My husband at the time, he was like, 'They 5 and 10, like, or 11 and 6. What do they need to go to therapy for?' " she shared. "But it was the best thing, and it made them understand that it's okay not to be perfect, not to know how to do everything, that you need to talk to people. To this day, my kids grew up knowing that it was okay to have someone to talk to and to share things with and not to try to keep them bottled up inside."

Tina pointed out that it is no different than if you have heart disease. "You're gonna find a heart doctor to help you," she argued.

"It's the same with therapy," she continued. "I'm always shocked when people don't understand how important it is to have someone who knows how to deal with you during those rough times, during a breakup or whatever."

After Tina split from Mathew Knowles after 33 years of marriage — their divorce was finalized in 2011 — she recalled that she "was so sad and depressed."

However, when Tina tried to find some help to "get my self-esteem back," she had trouble finding a place that wasn't just for those in drug addiction recovery.

"You know, and I thank God for those places, but I just wanted to go somewhere where somebody could make me feel better about myself, and there was nothing available," she said. "Therapy is so, so important, guys. Even if it's just your support group from your church or some of your girlfriends that you get together and talk about what's going on with you and how you can heal from things, it's so important not to put a stigma on that. It really is."

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Tina released her debut memoir, Matriarch, in April 2025. The book explores her upbringing in Texas and how she raised Beyoncé and Solange. It topped the New York Times Best Seller list.

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