Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, is coming to the defense of Kelly Rowland in regards to that recent red carpet spat at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
While attending the premiere of the French film Marcello Mio on Tuesday, May 21, the singer and actress got into a tense altercation with a security guard while walking up the red carpet towards the theater.
Just hours after the Dilemma star shared her side of the story on the incident, Knowles posted a message in support of Rowland, whom she has long considered to be like a daughter to her since she moved in with the Knowles family at age 11 during the formation of Destiny’s Child.
‘And just like that, she @kellyrowland graces another carpet with her amazing glorious beauty, class and grace!!!! Sipping Champagne and living her best life,’ Knowles, 70, captioned a video showing Rowland back at another event at Cannes on Wednesday.
‘This just goes to show that one silly monkey, don’t stop no-show!!! on to bigger and and better things,’ Rowland added, in a reference to the red carpet drama two days earlier.
Tina Knowles, 70, has come to the defense of Kelly Rowland following her heated verbal dispute with a female security guard on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday
A lip reader, Jeremy Freeman, was hired by Page Six to transcribe a video of the incident that seemingly began when the female security guard stepped on the train of Rowland’s gown, to which she responded, ‘Don’t worry.’
The French woman appeared to frantically respond to the Say My Name star, who even turned back to continue to make her point as she made her way up the rest of the steps.
It’s not exactly clear what the worker said in response, but Rowland appeared to follow up and say, ‘Don’t talk to me like that. Don’t talk to me like that. You’re not my mother. I told you not to talk to me like that.’
A male security guard then came down to ask what was being said as the lady was using her hands to move Rowland along off the steps of the red carpet.
‘You still don’t talk to me like that!’ she reiterated on last time before continuing her walk into the theater.
The Atlanta, Georgia native, 43, insisted she was just standing her ground.
‘The woman knows what happened. I know what happened,’ she said. ‘And, I have a boundary. And I stand by those boundaries and that is it.’
She added, ‘There were other women who attended that carpet, who did not quite look like me, and they didn’t get scolded or pushed off or told to get off.’
The singer and actress was walking up the red carpet stairs towards the theater for the premiere of Marcello Mio when the verbal dispute erupted
The incident seemingly began when the security guard stepped on the train of Rowland’s gown, to which she responded, ‘Don’t worry’
It’s not exactly clear what the worker said in response, but Rowland appeared to follow up and say, ‘Don’t talk to me like that. Don’t talk to me like that. You’re not my mother. I told you not to talk to me like that,’ according to a lip reader hired by Page Six
‘There were other women who attended that carpet, who did not quite look like me, and they didn’t get scolded or pushed off or told to get off,’ the singer and actress said afterwards
The French woman appeared to frantically respond to the Say My Name star, who even turned back to continue to make her point as she made her way up the rest of the steps
It was claimed that the heated interaction came about because staff members were ‘being aggressive’, and eventually Rowland reached a boiling point with them.
‘The people who are assigned to helping stars walk the red carpet were being aggressive and Kelly was trying to ignore it,’ an insider told DailyMail.com.
In a show of class, the Talk A Good Game star took to her Instagram page after the premiere and red carpet drama to give thanks for the invite and to the glam team who helped make her red gown ensemble come together.
‘Cannes Film Festival Red Carpet Thank you… @kilianparis for having me!! ‘@messika for the [diamonds] and @anamikakhanna.in for the red dress,’ Rowland wrote in an Instagram post the following day.
One day after the dispute, Knowles shared her supportive words for Rowland in the caption of a video shot on Tuesday where she posed with Joe Jonas and Evan Ross
In a show of class, the Talk A Good Game star took to her Instagram page after the premiere and red carpet drama to give thanks for the invite and to the glam team who helped make her red gown ensemble come together
The Atlanta, Georgia native, 43, insisted she was just standing her ground
‘The woman knows what happened. I know what happened,’ the former Destiny’s Child star said. ‘And, I have a boundary. And I stand by those boundaries and that is it’
Knowles’ support for the Can’t Nobody performer shouldn’t come as a surprise considering she often refers to Rowland as her daughter, whom she helped raise from the age of 11 when she began living with the Knowles family.
It didn’t take long before Rowland began referring to Beyoncé’s mother (born Celestine Ann Beyonce) as ‘Mama T’.
This was all around the time her then husband, Matthew Knowles, was helping Beyoncé get her girl group together, Destiny’s Child, which resulted in him becoming their manager and ultimately helping them land a record deal.
In an open letter published by Time magazine in 2015, Knowles stated ‘I gave birth to two of you, but I have four incredible daughters,’ which was a reference to Beyoncé, her younger sister Solange, Rowland, and her niece Angela Beyincé.
Knowles’ support for the Can’t Nobody performer shouldn’t come as a surprise considering she often refers to Rowland as her daughter, whom she helped raise from the age of 11 when she began living with the Knowles family during the formation of Destiny’s Child; she is seen with the then couple in February 2003
After bonding over the years Rowland started referring to Tina Knowles as ‘Mama T’; Mama T is seen with Rowland, Michelle Williams and Beyoncé in September 2004
Along with Beyoncé Rowland was the only other member of Destiny’s Child to be there from the start of their career in 1990.
LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett were both in the group when they signed their record deal with Columbia Records in 1997.
Roberson and Luckett left the group after they attempted to split from Matthew Knowles’ management, citing favoritism of Knowles and Rowland.
By early 2000, both Roberson and Luckett were replaced with Williams and Farrah Franklin, however, Franklin quit after a few months, leaving the group as a trio.
In all, Destiny’s Child released five studio albums between 1998 and 2004, en route to selling more than 60 million records worldwide, as of May 2024.