Tina Knowles revealed she put daughters Beyoncé and Solange in therapy when they were young because Beyoncé was being “mean” to her little sister.
In a new interview with Oprah, the 71-year-old author revealed the challenges Solange faced being the sister of a rising star in a singing group.
Sibling rivalry is common growing up, but the challenges Solange faced were unusual due to Beyoncé’s growing fame.
“I got so scared because they were like super close,” Tina told Oprah. “Then all of a sudden, Solange was going taking Beyoncé’s stuff, and Beyoncé was kinda being a little mean to her, and I had never seen it before. It scared me to death.”
Tina recalled feeling “terrified” when Beyoncé’s music career took off when she was 10. Solange was only 5 at the time. As Beyoncé practiced with Destiny’s Child, Solange often felt left out.
“She would try to choreograph and, you know, she wanted to be involved — and they didn’t want her involved,” Tina told Sara Sidner in a separate interview on CNN Central. The doting mom began to notice Beyoncé’s growing hostility toward her little sister. Beyoncé would let the other group members talk down to Solange because they saw Beyoncé being disrespectful toward her own sister.
“I started noticing that Beyoncé would allow them to talk to her like that or she would say, ‘OK, Mom, can you get Solange out of here?'” Tina said.
Tina feared for her youngest daughter being in the shadow of her big sister. “I saw a wall between them coming,” she said. Tina made the decision to put them into therapy to protect Solange. But her family disagreed.
“My family was like, ‘You’re going to make those girls crazy.’ Because, you know, especially in the Black community back then [people didn’t go to therapy]. Back then, it was really taboo,” she said.
Tina’s ex-husband, Mathew Knowles, also voiced his concerns about putting the girls in therapy. “He was like, ‘I just don’t know if they’re too young for you to do that.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m not asking. I’m going to find somebody.'”
Tina found a therapist who was the right fit for the girls. However, Beyoncé disliked being in therapy, but Solange thrived. She opened up to the therapist and expressed her feelings.
Unfortunately therapy didn’t work out for the sisters.
Beyoncé, 43, and Solange, 38, are more distant now than they have ever been.
Fans can’t recall the last time they saw Beyoncé and Solange together in public.
