Tina Knowles Finally Addressed That Beyoncé Pregnancy Theory

Tina Knowles didn’t hold back while promoting her new memoir Matriarch, calling out long-standing rumors that Beyoncé faked her first pregnancy as “disgusting” and “painful” during a recent interview with People.

The fashion entrepreneur and mother of the global superstar addressed the decade-old conspiracy theory that took off in 2011 after Beyoncé’s appearance on an Australian talk show.

The way her dress folded led some to question whether she was actually pregnant. At the time, Beyoncé’s publicist dismissed the speculation as “stupid, ridiculous, and false.”

Now, Knowles is speaking for herself.

“Babies and children are so precious and so sacred,” she said. “To hear people say the most horrendous things and to call my whole family a lie, because we would all have to be part of that conspiracy and lie about something so sacred.”

Knowles revealed that Beyoncé had urged her not to respond publicly when the rumors first surfaced.

“My daughter was saying, ‘No, you’re going to make the story bigger,’” she said. “But it didn’t go away for a long time. It’s one of the most painful things for me, that people could be that disgusting.”

She described the experience as “one of the worst times in my life because I couldn’t say anything.”

Knowles, 71, also reflected on the emotional toll of public scrutiny and falsehoods, saying, “I deal with lies all the time. I’m dealing with lies now, that I’m having, like, an invisible zipper at my mouth to talk about things now because there’s always these crazy rumors that are out there and people just get to lie and they don’t have to suffer any consequences, you know, it is very sad.”

Beyoncé gave birth to Blue Ivy Carter in January 2012 and welcomed twins Rumi and Sir in 2017.

Matriarch is available now.