Source: Lionel Hahn / Getty
“I’m a boss, I’m a leader, I pull up in my two-seater
And my mama was a savage, n—, got this shit from Tina”
Those are the lyrics Beyoncè rapped on the “Savage” remix with Megan Thee Stallion. Now the world can get some game from Tina Knowles, as her mother has written a memoir.
Matriarch, written by Tina Knowles and edited by former Cassiuslife editorial director Kierna Mayo will hit stores on April 22. It will tell the story of Knowles, born Celestine Ann Beyoncè growing up in Galveston, Texas as the youngest of seven and how she dreamed of seeing the world beyond her coastal town.
“Matriarch the book is going to expand and open new possibilities for the very meaning of the term ‘matriarch’ for readers everywhere,” Mayo said in a statement. “Matriarchs carry the way forth. They hold the center. They usher in what’s possible. They give you life.”
Galveston is where slaves in 1865 were told that slavery had ended, becoming the impetus of the Juneteenth holiday which should provide historical context to the “multigenerational family saga” promised in the book’s synopsis.
“That life’s journey — through grief and tragedy, creative and romantic risks and turmoil, the nurturing of superstar offspring and of her own special gifts — is the remarkable story she shares with readers here,” the book’s description reads. “This is a page-turning chronicle of family love and heartbreak, of loss and perseverance and of the kind of creativity, audacity and will it takes for a girl from Galveston to change the world.”
In 1980, Tina married Mathew Knowles, who became a top salesman at Xerox Medical Systems. She ultimately opened Headliners, a hair salon in Houston, where her daughter Beyoncè has said she learned many life lessons. As the world now knows, Mathew and Tina raised Beyoncè, Solange, and for a part of her childhood, Kelly Rowland.
Though the marriage ended in divorce and the public revelation of Mathew’s infidelities, Tina has said little about it publicly. But some years ago, she made public comments at an event saying that the divorce was “devastating” and that she had to regroup to continue raising her children. Since then, she’s married and divorced actor Richard Lawson.
The book will include her experiences shepherding her daughters to international fame and what she learned from her mother, as well as finding her voice and success amid Beyoncè’s overarching global career.
Knowles said in a statement to People, “I have always been a storyteller, and it’s something I learned from my mother. When I had a family of my own, I believed that my daughters needed to know where they came from to know where they were going.”
She added, “Even at 70 I am still learning valuable lessons — revelations that I wish that I would have had at 40 or even 20. So, I have decided to tell my story, because I know what it means to me and my daughters and future generations of women.”
Matriarch can be preordered now and has already gone to #1 on the Amazon book sales chart.
RELATED CONTENT: So Sad! Tina Knowles Shares Her Older Brother ‘Butch’ Died Over The Weekend
