Beyoncé’s mother Tina Knowles has expressed her fury over “hateful” rumours that her daughter “faked” her pregnancy by using a surrogate to carry her first child, Blue Ivy.
Claims that Beyoncé didn’t carry her daughter first surfaced in October 2011 after she was caught at a misleading angle during an appearance on an Australian television show.
The singer opted to keep her pregnancy with her husband Jay-Z a secret until she approached her final trimester as she’d suffered multiple “heartbreaking” miscarriages. However, frenzied media interest persisted.
Knowles helped her daughter conceal her pregnancy with “wardrobe tricks” until she was ready to unveil her bump on stage at that year’s MTV Video Music Awards, with only four months to go until her due date.
Writing in her new memoir, titled Matriarch, Knowles said: “This pregnancy was the greatest blessing to come to our family after a terrible time.
“Beyoncé had suffered through miscarriages before, and had recently been through yet another loss, one that was especially heartbreaking,” she explained.
“Given her history, that time she had wanted until she was at the twelve-week mark to even tell Jay’s family and [Destiny’s Child band members] Kelly [Rowland] and Michelle [Williams].”
A day after Beyoncé had finally shared the news of her pregnancy to her Destiny’s Child bandmates, she went for a checkup at the doctors and was told there was no heartbeat.
“She called me in tears, devastated, and I rushed over to be with her,” Knowles recalled of the devastating loss. “With this new pregnancy, Beyoncé understandably wanted to wait a long time before even telling close friends.”
Knowles recalled how Beyoncé’s pregnancy with Blue Ivy had been “gruelling emotionally and physically” as they remained determined to keep the baby a secret while the pop star continued to perform to huge crowds. Meanwhile, spectators at home freeze-framed footage and claimed they could see a bump.
The pop star’s mother did her job of hiding her daughter’s pregnancy so well that, after she officially announced the news in August 2011, the rumour mill pivoted to claim her newly visibly bump didn’t actually exist.
“She did a TV appearance in Australia, wearing a dress with a stuff fabric that folded when she sat,” Knowles recalled. “Media outlets helped spread a hateful rumour that she was faking being pregnant – there was even an ABC News bulletin calling it a ‘mystery.’”
“This sacred time, after such tragedy and pain, was marred by some of the stupidest s*** I had ever seen,” Knowles said. “People could not understand how hurtful it was for the media to exploit a life that miraculous and doubt its existence and origin.
“The worst thing is that people had no idea how hard it was for Beyoncé to go through multiple miscarriages and then when finally blessed to carry a baby to term, the world starts heckling you as you both try to make it to the finish line,” she said.
“This child was prayed for and prayed over – a wanted, cherished, real baby, and people were making a living off saying she was a lie. I wanted to curse some people out and scream at these losers to set the record straight. They had no idea what she and Jay, and our whole family, had been through.”
Beyoncé didn’t allow her mother to give a statement to the media at the time as she feared her quotes would only generate more headlines that her daughter would see when she grew up.
“I would get incensed, so furious that I would beg again and again, ‘Can I say something to these idiots?’” Knowles said.
“As a mother, the constant rumours make me feel helpless, unable to protect my children… It feels out of my control,” she said of her fury.
“Since my girls' stardom, I watched how megastars were harassed and targeted, tortured in one way or another until their lives were living hell-only to be celebrated once they were gone. Flowers given at the grave. I have said this before, and I say it again now: Y'all are not gonna kill my children with this madness,” she warned.
The “Crazy in Love” singer gave birth to daughter Blue Ivy Carter in January 2012. Beyoncé and Jay-Z also share twins Rumi and Sir, who were born in 2017 via emergency C-section.
Speaking to Elle in 2019, the singer said of her journey to motherhood: “Having miscarriages taught me that I had to mother myself before I could be a mother to someone else.”
