Tina Knowles, Michelle Obama talk motherhood and power

Tina Knowles kicked off her “Matriarch” book tour with Michelle Obama, discussing motherhood, self-discovery and Black women’s health before a packed crowd in National Harbor, Maryland on April 30.

After her divorce from music executive Mathew Knowles at 59, Knowles didn’t feel free, she felt old.

“I don’t even like to say it, but the truth is, I felt like life was over,” she told The Washington Post in an interview. “Where am I ever going to meet somebody? What am I going to do now? I’m going to be lonely.”

She laughed a little at the thought of herself back in the clubs, but the fear was real. For a woman who had spent decades building a famous family, a hair salon in Houston and an image of strength, the silence of starting over was terrifying. It wasn’t until her therapist asked her to list everything she had accomplished that she began to recognize herself again. “The great things way outweighed the bad,” she said. That year, she threw herself back into her art, visited museums alone, and reclaimed her time. “I realized it wasn’t my kids that were monopolizing me it was me.” Read moreSubscribe to The Washington Post on YouTube