Tina Knowles is opening up about being diagnosed with breast cancer last year.
In a new issue of PEOPLE, Knowles, mom to Beyoncé and Solange, revealed that doctors discovered stage 1 breast cancer in her left breast last July. Knowles documents her breast cancer journey in her newly released memoir "Matriarch."
"I struggled with whether I would share that journey [in the book] because I'm very private. But I decided to share it because I think it's a lot of lessons in it for other women," Knowles said. "And I think as women, sometimes we get so busy and we get so wrapped up and running around, but you must go get your test. Because if I had not gotten my test early, I mean, I shudder to think what could have happened to me."
The memoir author admitted that even she had mistakenly missed her scheduled mammogram.
"I forgot that I didn't go to get my test two years before I thought I had," Knowles said, "because Covid came and they called me and canceled me and they said, we'll call you when we start testing again. And I just thought I had done it. So you cannot play around with that."
Knowles recalled receiving the news shortly after she and Beyoncé launched their Cécred hair care line. In reaction to the diagnosis, Knowles said Bey “took it well, staying positive, and I could already feel her mind racing, focusing on this as a task to tackle with precision.”
The superstar mom added Solange told her, "Mom, we are going to take care of this.”
According to PEOPLE, Knowles underwent surgery to have her tumor removed and a breast reduction.
“I’m doing great,” Knowles said. “Cancer-free and incredibly blessed that God allowed me to find it early."
The "Matriarch" author is urging women not to "slack" on getting their mammograms done.
"I didn't know that there was a stage 0. I could have caught this at stage 0 if I had not missed my mammogram," Knowles said.
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