Sending love to Mothers around the world.
A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on May 10, 2015 at 1:29pm PDT
Tina Knowles is responsible for raising two of the most important women in today’s music industry: Beyoncé and Solange Knowles. Talking to Janet Mock in a new hour-long interview, the inaugural episode of Mock’s 10-episode series, the superstar mother discusses everything from the early years of Destiny’s Child to instilling positive values in her daughters and running her own hair salon. She also takes the time to shut down critics of Beyoncé’s signature dyed blond hair — people accusing the superstar of trying to become more “white passing.”
Miss Tina, as she is affectionately called by fans online, says Beyoncé’s blonde highlights are simply a tribute to her. As a kid, Beyoncé was always enamored by old pictures of Tina rocking highlights.
“You know, I had highlights in my afro,” Tina says. “It’s just been my thing that I’ve been doing since I was 13 years old. She’s just influenced by old pictures of me doing the highlights. Her very first video was the time I said, ‘Okay, you can have some highlights — but we’re going to put little fake ones in there.”
Tina proceeds to recall things going astray on the set of that first Destiny’s Child video. The hair assistant Tina hired to help do the girls’ hair had forgotten the blonde highlights. “She [Beyoncé] was really, really upset with me and it was time to start,” Tina reflects with a smile in her voice.”So I had highlights in my hair and I cut them out and I glued them in her hair. She tells that story and she gets choked up about it. It was so sweet to her but to me it was I didn’t keep my promise. If I have to give any advice as a parent, it’s to keep your word.”
Tina shares more stories about her children’s hair. She sent a third-grade Solange to school wearing braids. When Solange’s teacher first met Tina, she remarked, “I didn’t expect someone who looked like you!” When Tina asked the teacher for clarification she answered, “I just mean Solange’s hair is very ethnic.”
Check out the new podcast series, “Never Before with Janet Mock,” executive produced by Lena Dunham, here.
Credits
Text André-Naquian Wheeler