Tina Knowles revealed why she chose to put Beyoncé and Solange in child therapy.
During an appearance at the 2026 L.A. Times Festival of Books in Los Angeles, she spoke about raising her soon-to-be superstar daughters.
“Beyoncé was this little superstar at 7 or 8 years old,” Tina recalled. “She was winning all these talent competitions. And 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.”
“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 didn’t want to be bothered with that little 5-year-old running around, getting all in her business and her things,” she continued.
Tina also shared that Beyoncé was getting “irritated” with Solange as she got older.
“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. …,” Tina explained. “I wanted them to be close.”
One of Tina’s clients at her hair salon was a therapist, and she asked for recommendations for a child therapist to “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 continued. “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.”