EXCLUSIVE Paul McCartney makes a cheeky enquiry to Tina Knowles about her famous daughter Beyonce as she prepares to kick off UK leg of her tour

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

Paul McCartney grilled Tina Knowles about what it's like being a mother to superstars Beyonce and Solange during the final night of her conversation tour.
The Beatles legend, 82, asked the question via his own daughter, fashion queen Stella McCartney, who was personally asked by the matriarch to be chair for the event, held at London's Southbank Centre on Wednesday night.
Stella, 53, saved her dad's question until last, admitting she had not planned to use it, but eventually felt compelled to ask.
She said: 'I told my dad today, I called him saying I was really nervous. It sounds awful but normally I'm being asked the questions, this isn't really what I do, I'm doing a conversation with Tina Knowles' and he said 'don't worry just be yourself, you'll be fine.'
'And I was like, no dad, I'm the one asking the questions' and he went ''ah''.
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'So I said, 'have you got a question to put to her as my father? He said, 'what's it like being mother to Beyonce and Solange?'
Tina, 72, replied: 'It's wonderful - except when people chat s**t about my kids. That's when I want to fight,' sparking rapturous applause from the audience.
Stella had gifted Tina a black gown from her clothing label for the event, titled Matriarch: An Evening with Tina Knowles & Guests, where the pair displayed an obvious mutual respect for one another.
Tina admitted she 'wore to death' a pair of Stella McCartney stretched jeans while bringing up her superstar daughters - a fashion staple Stella says she 'invented' - while the designer spoke about her desire to nab parenting tips off the businesswoman, especially when it comes to dealing with teenage daughters.
Stella has two of them, Bailey, 19, and Reilly, 15, as well as sons Miller, 20, and Beckett, 17.
Tina rarely namechecked Beyoncé, and didn't mention her husband Jay-Z once, but did speak up about the Halo singer when discussing her teenage years and the fact she encouraged the diva to go out and be 'wild', as she was a shy child.
Indeed, Tina said the same thing about Beyoncé's Destiny's Child bandmate Kelly Rowland, 44, who she considers as one of her four daughters - the other being songwriter Angie Beyince, 48 - as well as her second biological daughter Solange, 38, who she says didn't need any convincing to have a social life.
Tina said: 'Beyonce and Kelly never wanted to go to parties, they never wanted to go out and I was like 'go party, go wild for a minute.'
'With Solange I didn't have to do that so much…'
On dealing with Solange in the present day, Tina says she's only just learned how to deal with her.
She explained: 'With Solange she needs her space and it took me a long time to understand that I can't push myself onto her and if she doesn't call me back today, I can't say 'girl, you better call me back'.
'She needs her space - she's just different. She has to have her own life and make her own decisions.'
Stella and Tina also shared common ground on the subject of breast cancer, given the latter was diagnosed with the condition in 2024, while the fashionista tragically lost her mum Linda to the illness in 1998.
Tina recalled her daughter Solange joking 'you've always wanted small boobs, mom' in an attempt to put a 'silver lining' on her diagnosis, which came after she missed a mammogram appointment during the pandemic.
She then issued a rallying call to women to get themselves checked, which was encouraged by Stella who revealed herself, sisters and best girl pals get theirs checked together every International Women's Day.
Tina said: 'Go get your mammograms, don't put it off.'
Tina also opened up about divorcing Beyoncé's father Mathew in 2011 after 31 years of marriage, insisting he was a 'good man', her close relationship with her gay brother Johnny, and how she became Destiny's Child's stylist following an emergency shopping spree from a roadside clothes store in Jamaica.
On the latter, she explains: 'They lost their clothes so I was just panicking.
'We went to some roadside place and I got this camouflage stuff, cut it up and made a dress or whatever I could make out of it.
'Then the day came and I realised I didn't have any pants for Kelly, she said 'I didn't even like that skirt', so I saw Pras [Michel] from the Fugees and I said 'take your pants off and give them to Kelly' and they went out there.
'After it was over, Wyclef [Jean] came up to the girls and said 'who styled y'all?' and Beyoncé said 'my mom did' and he said 'yo, she needs to style you all the time' and that's how I became the stylist for Destiny's Child.'