At the Los Angeles Times Studios’ fifth annual Inspirational Women Forum & Leadership Awards, Tina Knowles — the 71-year-old author of Matriarch and a longtime creative force in fashion and entertainment — spoke candidly about one of the most defining turning points of her life. During the discussion, Knowles revisited the moment she recognized she could no longer stay in a marriage that had shaped, guided, and at times eclipsed more than thirty years of her identity (LA Times reporting).

Knowles described how emotionally complex it was to leave her marriage to Mathew Knowles, explaining that disentangling their lives after 33 years felt nearly impossible.

“I was married for 33 years. I’d been with someone for 33 years and you can imagine how intertwined our lives were,” she said, according to Hello! Magazine.

The fashion designer and businesswoman told attendees that the idea of separating her identity from his was frightening. “I thought, ‘How do I untangle this ball of yarn? Because my life is so intertwined with my ex-husband.’”

A New Life After a 33-Year Marriage

Even after deciding to walk away, Knowles struggled to imagine herself outside the marriage. “I didn’t know how to be solo without this other person,” she admitted. The emotional weight of that choice followed her, ushering her into a period of deep self-reflection that reshaped her understanding of independence, love, and self-worth.

At 59, the fear of starting over was real. Knowles said she questioned everything — including whether companionship was still possible in this new chapter. “I thought to myself, ‘I’m 59. Where am I going to get a man? I’m not going to the club,’” she recalled with a mix of humor and vulnerability.

According to Knowles, therapy played an essential role in helping her rebuild her identity, process her insecurities, and confront the anger that lingered after the marriage ended (People Magazine reporting). She described learning to balance acknowledgment of her wounds with recognition of her accomplishments, a shift that allowed her to heal more clearly and compassionately.

Social Media Reacts to Her Story

Once Knowles’ remarks circulated online, users across Facebook and Instagram were quick to share their thoughts. When The Jasmine Brand posted the clip, reactions ranged from supportive to skeptical.

“That’s good, she was able to free herself from codependency, which a lot of people have in marriages,” one commenter wrote.

Another joked, “Lady, you done got divorced, remarried, and divorced again… what?”

On Instagram, the tone softened. One user noted, “33 years is a lifetime. I can imagine that would be hard!” Another added, “Thanks for sharing your story with the world, because I know it wasn’t easy… but you made it through.”

A different commenter suggested her journey reflected a larger pattern: “This could be why SOME people jump back into another relationship after a divorce.”

One social media user even pivoted the conversation entirely, asking, “Is that why Beyoncé won’t leave Jay?”

How Her Daughters Processed the Divorce

Knowles has previously shared that Beyoncé and Solange had strong emotional responses to their parents’ marital unraveling. In Matriarch, she writes that Beyoncé processed the news of her mother’s brief reconciliation with Mathew Knowles with quiet disappointment, while Solange reacted with fiery anger, unable to reconcile her mother returning to someone whose betrayals had caused years of pain (NBC News reporting).

Knowles said Solange’s reaction came from a place of fierce loyalty and protectiveness — shaped by witnessing the fallout from her father’s infidelity and the strain it placed on the family.

Despite the hurt, Knowles acknowledged that Mathew was, in many ways, her “protector,” someone she still trusted in moments of crisis. That emotional complexity made leaving harder, but her eventual choice even braver.

A Second Marriage and Its Quiet Ending

Knowles married longtime family friend and actor Richard Lawson in 2015 after a decades-long friendship blossomed into romance. Their union, widely celebrated at the time (People Magazine reporting), came to an end in 2024. Lawson chose to remain discreet about the details, saying only that the pair separated with “gratitude and appreciation.”

Knowles later revealed on Oprah’s Book Club that she came to realize the marriage no longer reflected the best version of herself. She recalled telling filmmaker Tyler Perry, “This marriage is not bringing out the best in me, and I have finally found my worth.”

Perry grew emotional, reminding her that the courage to leave would influence not only her daughters’ understanding of love and boundaries, but also her grandson’s future expectations of how women deserve to be treated.

A New Chapter, A New Peace

Today, Knowles is embracing a calmer, more confident chapter of her life. She even hinted that she may be seeing a “very nice gentleman,” though she offered no details. What she did make clear is that she is moving forward without regret, standing firmly in the lessons she has learned.

And while online conversation continues to dissect her choices, her path illustrates something powerful: after 33 years of marriage, her decision to walk away was not an act of loss — it was her first and most significant act of choosing herself.