Tina Knowles-Lawson, clothing designer and mother to superstar daughters Beyoncé and Solange, is a woman of many talents. She’s also a woman of enviable strength and fortitude, which she gets from the women who call her “mom.”
During a recent episode of OWN’s Girlfriends Check In, Knowles-Lawson took part in a virtual chat with actresses Vanessa Bell Calloway, Lynn Whitfield and model Beverly Johnson. She gushed about the joys of having three daughters (she’s also a proud stepmother to her husband Richard Lawson’s daughter, actress Bianca Lawson). She also praises her daughters Beyoncé and Solange for being her rock during her painful divorce.
“When I went through my divorce, I was devastated after 33 years of marriage—not because I wanted to stay in a marriage, but just because I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I failed at this.’ They were my balm,” Knowles-Lawson said tearfully. “They let me feel sorry for myself for a short period of time, and then they were like, ‘Mama, you’re a bad girl.’ I won’t use the word that they gave me but…they were like, ‘You’ve got so much going, you shouldn’t be feeling like life is over for you,’ that ‘God has something for you.’ “
Knowles-Lawson says that ironically the roles reversed when she found herself being comforted by her daughters. “It’s just funny how the roles change and they became my mom and I became the child,” she continued. “That’s the great thing about having women. I’m still their mother and want to be able to check them when I need to, but they check me, too.”
Following her divorce from Matthew Knowles in 2011, Knowles-Lawson went on to marry actor Richard Lawson in 2015. The pair said “I do” in a yacht ceremony in Newport Beach, California, attended by their all of their family and friends.
Watch Mama Tina’s moving story below: