Tina Knowles Addresses Claims Beyoncé Always Planned to Leave Destiny’s Child & Go Solo

In her new memoir, Matriarch, the 71-year-old shut down the claims that Beyoncé always intended to be a solo artist and always planned to leave Destiny’s Child, while also addressing the “incredibly harmful” rumors that surfaced after founding members LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett left the group.

“People oftentimes say that the goal was always for Beyoncé to be solo, but if that were the case, she would have done that out of the gate,” Tina said, per Us Weekly. “She loved being part of a group.”

Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, Roberson, and Luckett created Destiny’s Child, originally called Girl’s Thyme, in the 1990s. Ahead of the debut of the “Say My Name” music video in 2000, Luckett and Roberson left the group, and were replaced by Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin.

Although Tina did not share details regarding Luckett and Roberson’s departure, she slammed claims that Beyoncé was thrilled about their exits or contributed to them, per Us Weekly.

“Beyoncé saw it as the end of a marriage of 10 years, and she began to grieve it as such,” Tina said, before addressing speculation regarding the role of Tina’s ex-husband, Mathew Knowles, who is Beyoncé and Solange’s father and was Destiny’s Child’s manager. “Rumors and negative stories took hold, casting Beyoncé as the daddy’s girl who made demands, and people even ran with a lie that Kelly only stayed because she was Mathew’s biological child from an affair. It was all incredibly hurtful.”

According to Tina, Beyoncé was so upset at the time that she “would barely leave her room” and was “cocooned in her bed.” Meanwhile, Tina said Mathew “seemed paralyzed” and “his racing mind of ideas slowed to a stop.”

She went on to address Franklin’s exit, which came only a few months after she joined.

“She unfortunately didn’t work out, and I always wish her the very best on her journey,” Tina wrote in her book.

Meanwhile, after Destiny’s Child recorded its third bestselling album, Survivor, which was its first as a trio, the group took a hiatus to pursue solo projects.

“Michelle was the first with Heart to Yours, which became the best-selling gospel album of 2002,” Tina wrote, per The Independent. “Then Kelly took over the summer with her single with Nelly, ‘Dilemma’, our princess creating a classic and No 1 single in the United States and in places all over Europe, forever launching her as an international star in her own right. It was one of the reasons her album Simply Deep debuted as the No 1 album in the United Kingdom.”

Beyoncé’s debut solo album, Dangerously In Love, wasn’t released until 2003 after the release date was pushed several times.

Tina opened up about the album’s delay in her memoir, writing that Beyoncé postponed the record so “Kelly could take full advantage of the momentum of her own success.”

According to Tina, Sony, which was Beyoncé’s label at the time, also said the album did not include any releasable singles. Tina went on to write that the label brought in “a few tastemakers,” before Beyoncé recruited her then-boyfriend Jay-Z, whom she claimed said every song on Dangerousl In Love was a “smash.”

While the label allegedly still expressed doubt, the album was released, and undoubtedly was a success, earning Beyoncé five Grammys, as well as four multi-platinum hit singles: “Crazy in Love,” “Baby Boy,” “Me, Myself and I,” and “Naughty Girl.”

Following the release of her solo album, as well as Williams and Rowland’s individual projects, Destiny’s Child ended its hiatus and recorded its fourth album, Destiny Fulfilled, which included the hits “Lose My Breath” and “Soldier,” and was released in 2004.