Tina Knowles: Cancer Missed Due to Missed Mammogram

Beyonce's mom, Tina Knowles, has revealed she was diagnosed with breast cancer after delaying a mammogram for years—something the 71-year-old wouldn't recommend for others. The American Cancer Society recommends women over 55 get a mammogram every one to two years. Knowles missed a routine screening during the COVID-19 pandemic and didn't reschedule the mammogram until 2024, per CBS News. She then learned she had Stage 1 cancer in her left breast. "I just ... was in disbelief," she tells CBS' Gayle King. Knowles later learned the cancer might have been Stage 0, meaning no spread beyond the original location, had she kept up with regular mammograms.

As it was, Knowles' cancer didn't spread beyond her breast. She had the cancerous tumor removed in August and, after suffering a serious post-surgical infection, is now cancer-free. Her interview with King aired Tuesday, the same day Oprah Winfrey announced Knowles' newly released memoir, Matriarch, was selected as her latest book club pick. "We learn how the strength and wisdom of the women who came before her fueled Tina's passion to achieve and gave her the ability to nurture her own daughters into the incredible women they are today," Winfrey says in a statement, per the AP. (More Tina Knowles stories.)