‘He’s Still My Protector’: Tina Knowles says ‘Low Self-Esteem’ Kept Her with Mathew Knowles Despite His ‘Never-Ending Cycle of Cheating’
The dirty laundry pulled out in Tina Knowles’ recently released memoir, “Matriarch,” keeps piling up.
Readers were first made privy to the furious responses she received from her daughters, Beyoncé and Solangé, after they learned she and their father, Mathew Knowles, had secretly reconciled before their marriage ended due to his consistent infidelity.
In her recent “Oprah’s Book Club” appearance, Knowles explained why letting old habits die was so hard for her, and several factors kept her in the tumultuous marriage for 31 years.
During the hour-long live Q&A, an audience member asked Knowles if any of the signs of her ex-husband’s infidelity were present before they got married and, if so, why she went through with it.
Knowles started her response with a disclaimer that she “hoped” the book didn’t paint her marriage as full of lows and issues, but it also had some good times.
She went on to say how, at the time she wed her husband she was 26 years old and had just lost her mother, and Mathew was there to help her fill a void.
“Imagine losing your mother at 26. Your brothers and sisters are older, they have their own families, and you feel so alone. And that’s [Mathew] my best friend.”
She acknowledged that while he had an issue, he was “so kind” to her.
Not dismissing his issues with infidelity, which she called an “illness,” she said she and her former husband were a “team.” “We had kids. We had a life together. We built businesses together. We connected on so many levels.”
She then admitted that looking back on it all now, she “can’t believe she stayed for so long,” but concluded that “low self-esteem” stemming from her childhood was the culprit.
“I thought I’m lucky to have someone that’s successful and smart and better than me,” Knowles said.
Oprah then pointed out Mathew’s “never-ending cycle of cheating,” asking Beyoncé and Solange’s mom if she ever felt she “wasn’t enough for him?”
Knowles quickly responded, “Yes. Oh yeah, at times.”
She continued. “I think you do go through that when someone cheats on you and it also keeps you in cycle of someone slapping you in the face and then you get another slap in the face and you can’t get your strength up.”
She alluded to the times when she would “get her strength up” but would think she would end up alone for the rest of her life because she wouldn’t bring another man around her daughters.
Not Tina and Mathew hooking up still after they divorced pic.twitter.com/FSTOCUdTN0
— Akiresatmidnight The OG (@AkiresHenri) April 22, 2025
Knowles added that even in their moments of estrangement, her former husband was also a “protector” and would step in if anyone tried to mess with her.
“He was always a protector. He’s still my protector. If something went wrong I would want him on my team,” she stated.
She was then asked about the current state of their relationship, to which she replied that they were “fine.”
“I still love him as a brother,” the 71-year-old clarified.
“Even though the things he did were out of an illness, they weren’t intentional,” admitting to possibly sounding “co-dependent,” she added, “I just know that he would take a bullet for me.”
Knowles and their ex-husband were married on Jan. 5, 1980; Knowles filed for divorce in 2009 but stayed in hopes of working it out. However, after it was made public that Mathew fathered a child with another woman, she filed again in 2011.
The two share four grandchildren, including Solange’s son, Daniel Julez Smith, 20; Beyoncé’s children, Blue Ivy Carter, 13; and twins, Rumi and Sir Carter, 7. Knowles also considers the two children of Kelly Rowland, Titan, 10 and Noah, 4, as her grandchildren.