Tina Knowles, the mother of singers Beyoncé and Solange, has revealed that she was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer last July.
In an interview with People magazine to discuss her new memoir, Matriarch, the 71-year-old said: "It's important not to slack on your mammograms."
"I struggled with whether I would share that journey [in the book] because I'm very private," the designer explained.
"But I decided to share it because I think it's a lot of lessons in it for other women.
"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."
"I forgot that I didn't go to get my test two years before I thought I had," she recounted, "because Covid came and they called me and cancelled 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."
"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," she said.
Knowles has since had surgery and told People she is "doing great".
"Cancer-free and incredibly blessed that God allowed me to find it early," she continued.
Knowles said she wanted to share her diagnosis "to show people you can go through that and still be fly".
She said she is now "healthier, eating better" and has lost weight.
"I want to give people hope," she added. "What scares me now is not making the best of every day that I have left in this life."
If you have been affected by issues raised in this story, please visit: www.rte.ie/helplines.
