‘You Wasn’t Paying No Attention’: Tina Knowles Fires Back at Claims She Let Solange Fall Through the Cracks as a Teen Mother While Building Beyoncé’s Career
Tina Knowles has worn many hats throughout her life. She started out as a hairdresser in her younger years, later becoming a costume designer for the girl group Destiny’s Child. In addition to her work in beauty and fashion, she’s now an author.
But one position Knowles never played about was her role as a mom.
The mother of two Grammy winning daughters, Beyoncé and Solange, is currently on a press tour for her new memoir “Matriarch,” where she shares excruciatingly personal details about her life.
In an April 23 interview on “CBS Mornings,” Gayle King asked Knowles how she dealt with the negative remarks about her younger daughter, Solange, getting pregnant at age 17.
Knowles recalls the public criticizing her and her then-husband Mathew Knowles’ parenting and calling them “terrible parents.”
“Well they would say crazy stuff like ‘Well you wasn’t paying no attention. You so busy running behind B that you couldn’t see blah, blah, blah.’ And I’m like, ‘That is absolutely not true,” she explained to King.
“They think they can say anything because I’m a nice person and I’m accessible. So they F around and find out the real deal once they do.”
However, Knowles claims things took place behind the scenes that the public was not aware of, which affected Solange even more.
“They didn’t know the backstory of Solange losing her best friend and wanting to hurry up and be a grownup ’cause she thought she wouldn’t live so long.” Solange welcomed her son Daniel “Julez” Smith Jr., 20, with his father Daniel “Julez” Smith, who was 19 at the time, in October 2004.
Solange, 38, allegedly told her mother she was planning to get married before welcoming her son.
Knowles told King, “Solange walks to the beat of her own drum, so I should’ve know. I said, ‘OK, well let me at least give you a wedding,’ you know, and made it memorable for her, but you can’t control somebody else’s life. It’s their life.’”
Solange and Smith were high school sweethearts who wed in the Bahamas in February 2004, months before giving birth. They eventually divorced in 2007.
The shock and subject of Solange’s teenage pregnancy hasn’t fully worn off. In fact, some people were still discussing it over a decade later on Twitter (now known as X).
One person wrote in January, “Finding out Solange got pregnant and then rushed into marriage at 17 always bothers me so much.”
Finding out Solange got pregnant and then rushed into marriage at 17 always bothers me so much
— Robyn 𐚁 (@kellcur) January 7, 2025
“B-tch I just found out Solange got pregnant at 17………….,” wrote a second in 2018.
In April 2020, someone else said, “Wow why am I just finding out that Solange has a 15 year old son?? That means she got pregnant AND married at 17 and had him when she was 18 years old…all of this is new info to me wtf I felt out of the loop not knowing this.”
The “Bring It On: All Or Nothing” star talked about becoming a young mom in a letter written to her younger self.
In the 2017 Teen Vogue letter, Solange says, “Seventeen will be the hardest year of your life. it will grow you up almost immediately. you will lose your best friend whom you love so much to gun violence in a single moment, and give birth to a new one within a year.”
“You will be terrified, and it’s ok that you don’t know what the future holds. some people will count you out because of the decision you’ve made to bring another life into the world so young, but you made the decision out of love and will live with the decision in love.”
At 20 years old, Solange’s son is carving out a path of his own in the entertainment industry as a model. He made his runway debut last year at the Luar’s fall 2024 show during NYFW.
Smith made his debut in Vogue magazine at just 19 years old in 2024 as well. He’s also booked gigs with Versace and Blue Marble.