Tina Knowles shocked fans when she filed for divorce from her second husband, Richard Lawson, after eight years of marriage and no shortage of sweet red carpet moments.
Now, Beyoncé’s mother is opening up about why she called it quits with the actor, revealing that the decision was a surprisingly easy one.
Walking away
“[Richard] is not a bad guy, we just weren’t right for each other,” Tina said at a London book event at the Southbank Centre, attended by HELLO!
“After the first marriage, it was easier to leave the second time. I knew [with my first husband Mathew] I had to leave a bunch of times but I didn’t because something big was always going on with my kids. The second time it was easier, we didn’t have kids and I was older. I knew that I deserved to be happy.”
Tina, who is currently on a book tour for her bestselling memoir Matriarch, filed for divorce in July 2023 when she was 69 years old, a decade from when they first reconnected.
© Paras GriffinThe former salon owner delved into her rocky ending with Richard in her new book, explaining how one day she simply “woke up” and knew it “needed to end”.
“Though we were friends for many years before our 10-year relationship, and he has great qualities, we just didn’t bring them out in each other,” she recalled. “I just grew up at 69, and realized I deserved so much more. I wanted to be happy. I wanted someone to be happy when I walked in the room.”
“If I stayed in this relationship, I would never feel whole, loved, cherished, and respected. And seen. Nothing else in a marriage matters if you are not first priority with each other,” Tina said.
Choosing herself
© Billboard via Getty ImagesShe cited irreconcilable differences in the divorce papers, and barely broke a sweat over the major decision she had just made.
“I made the decision to divorce with a heavy heart but totally without malice, and I have not lost a night of sleep over it,” she wrote, adding that it was different to her first divorce from Mathew Knowles in 2011, which made her feel like she “was going to die.”
“I not only survived, I thrived,” she added. “I’d like a companion in life, even to get married again, but whether or not I was with somebody, I would still be good. I would lead a fulfilled life, because I’d come to truly value the woman in the mirror.”
The pair settled their divorce in 2024, with Tina agreeing to give her ex-husband a one-time payment of $300,000 representing “a full and complete settlement of all interest that Respondent has acquired during marriage in the community property of the parties as well as his obligation on any and all community debts.”
The ultimate betrayal
© WireImageTina was previously married to Mathew Knowles for 30 years, and welcomed Beyoncé and her sister Solange with the record executive.
The matriarch detailed Mathew’s extensive infidelities in her memoir, including when he fathered a child outside of their marriage.
“I was deeply sad, not about him but about the marriage,” she wrote in her book. “I felt like I failed. I failed us, my kids – myself.” The former couple are now on good terms and reunite for major family events.
To learn more about Tina’s health battle, see below…
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