Tina Knowles is giving fans a deeper look into how she helped nurture the famously close relationship between her daughters, Beyoncé and Solange. In a new interview with Sara Sidner on the April 25 episode of CNN News Central, the 71-year-old matriarch opened up about the early challenges of raising two strong, creative personalities under one roof—and how she turned to therapy to keep their bond intact.
“I think one of the things is that you look at them as individuals, because they were very, very different. [Solange] is very, very different,” Tina said when asked how she managed to make both daughters feel special growing up.
Tina recalled feeling “terrified” when Beyoncé’s budding music career took off around age 10. As Beyoncé’s singing group practiced, Solange, eager to participate, often found herself pushed aside. “She would try to choreograph and, you know, she wanted to be involved—and they didn’t want her involved,” Tina explained. “And then I started noticing that Beyoncé would allow them to talk to her like that or she would say, ‘OK, Mom, can you get Solange out of here?’”
Seeing a divide forming between her daughters, Tina knew she had to intervene. “I saw a wall between them coming,” she said, and made the decision to put both girls into therapy together—despite some pushback from family. “My family was like, ‘You’re going to make those girls crazy.’ Because, you know, especially in the Black community back then [people didn’t go to therapy]. Back then, it was really taboo,” she said. Even her ex-husband, Mathew Knowles, voiced concerns. “He was like, ‘I just don’t know if they’re too young for you to do that.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m not asking. I’m going to find somebody.’”
Tina found a “wonderful” therapist who helped the young sisters navigate their feelings. Beyoncé, she revealed, “hated therapy,” while Solange “loved talking and expressing herself.” The result was exactly what Tina had hoped for: “The outcome was great. It was really great because they have been super tight since.”
Sidner praised Tina for giving her daughters such a “beautiful gift,” noting how visibly strong their bond remains today. Tina agreed, adding, “Yeah, they are very tight.”
The interview highlighted not only Tina’s forward-thinking parenting approach but also how early intervention helped preserve one of the closest sibling relationships in music history.