The Shady Side Of Beyonce's Dad
Mathew Knowles has some skeletons in his closet, and they go beyond anything Beyoncé could reveal in "Daddy Lessons" or on Lemonade. From professional setbacks to personal snafus, here's the shady side of Mathew Knowles.
He announced the birth of Beyoncé and Jay Z's twins before they did
Before Beyoncé or Jay Z acknowledged or confirmed the birth of their twins publicly, Mathew Knowles tweeted, "They're here! #beyonce #twins #jayz #happybirthday." While neither Beyoncé nor Jay Z acknowledged the message, Beyhive members and fans lashed out at Knowles, sending him missives including "shame on you" and "Just had to ruin it for Bey, didn't you?" Users essentially accused Knowles of capitalizing off of Bey and Jay's baby news for his own personal gain, which may not be entirely far off, considering he made sure to include his Instagram handle on the image.
While the move may have seemed tone-deaf, there is a chance he obtained permission from the ultra-private couple before posting his innocuous (and even sweet) message. What's more, Bey's mom (and Knowles' ex), Tina Knowles-Lawson, liked a post about the birth on Knowles' Instagram.
Still, considering that TMZ reported that the twins remain hospitalized for a "minor issue," chances are Hov and Bey would have preferred to maintain their privacy as long as possible, or at least until the tykes were allowed to go home.
He cheated on Tina
Knowles and Tina Knowles-Lawson divorced in December 2011 after an arduous two-year process. They originally filed for divorce in 2009 one month after it was revealed that Knowles got another woman, actress Alexsandra Wright, pregnant after an alleged 18-month affair. In the divorce documents (obtained by TMZ), Knowles-Lawson claimed that the marriage was "insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities ... [which] prevents any reasonable expectation of reconciliation."
He might be a deadbeat dad ...
Wright is the mother of Knowles' son, Nixon, now 7. Wright claimed to Inside Edition in April 2014 that she and Nixon were living in a trailer park and subsisting on food stamps. She also fumed that Knowles had never even met his son. TMZ reported that Wright had brought Knowles to court numerous times for back child support. He initially was ordered to pay more than $12,000 a month in child support, but got his payments reduced to about $2,500 a month — and convinced a judge that he'd already overpaid Wright more than $110,000.
... to more than one child
In September 2014, a paternity test proved that Knowles was the father of another child he'd conceived while still married to Tina. TaQoya Branscomb gave birth to a daughter named Koi in 2010 and sought child support payments from Knowles.
In January 2016, it was reported that Branscomb had been awarded full custody of Koi after she revealed he allegedly paid her $225,000 in "hush money" — which he believed absolved him from paying at least that sum in child support payment. Knowles also stated in court that he paid for Branscomb to get an abortion. He was ordered to pay more than $71,000 in back child support in addition to close to $1,500 a month in regular child support ... and his behavior didn't impress the judge presiding over the case.
Judge David D. Farr wrote in his judgment, "Mr. Knowles knew of his paternity in September 2009 and clearly sought to avoid the establishment of a support obligation based primarily on the tolling agreement and the payment of monies pursuant to said agreement, which the court can only reasonably conclude was hush money ... The court notes that Mr. Knowles has zero interest, and in this court's consideration on the evidence, zero capability of being a positive role model in the child's life ... By way of findings to the issue of retroactive child support, the court notes that it has considerable doubts concerning the veracity and credibility of Mr. Knowles' testimony based on numerous observations at trial."
He takes all the credit for Beyoncé's success and cashes in on her name constantly
Knowles hosted seminars called "The Entertainment Industry: How Do I Get In?" but insisted it had nothing to do with his daughter. "Let me tell you what it's not — that I'm trying to cash out on Beyoncé. Nothing to do with that. I'm not just Beyoncé's father. People want to brand me as that. I'm the brains behind the success," Knowles boasted to Page Six. Sounds a little rude, no?
Sure, he may not want to cash in on Queen Bey ... but then why did he try to hawk a Destiny's Child biopic? And why did he sell her merchandise at a premium in a garage sale?
He was accused of stealing from Beyoncé
Beyoncé severed her professional relationship with Knowles around the time that he and Knowles-Lawson divorced in 2011 — but it turns out that the problems went beyond their personal lives and had hit Bey's bottom line. TMZ reported that after a Live Nation touring deal went awry, the concert giant accused Knowles of stealing money from the singer. Beyoncé had her lawyers conduct an audit, which allegedly proved Live Nation's claims of Knowles' theft to be true. Knowles denied all of the claims, but he still hasn't managed the Queen since.
He's apparently not good at managing his money
Perhaps another reason Bey bailed on her dad as her manager is because he can't even handle his own cash flow properly. In 2013, TMZ reported that Knowles was slapped with a tax lien from the IRS for more than $1.2 million dollars for earnings from 2010 and 2011, then again in 2015 for another $220,000. In 2014, Knowles was sued for about $64,000 by an accounting firm he'd hired to handle his money. In 2015, TMZ reported that Knowles was sued by Platinum Tax Defenders for allegedly failing to pay more than $20,000 of a $64,000 fee to handle his taxes.
He let veterans down
In February 2016, Knowles bailed on a charity event being held at his House of Dereon Event Center in Houston, Texas, that was to benefit homeless female veterans suffering from PTSD, Page Six reported. "I am upset because we've spent months preparing for this, and we're gonna have to start from scratch," retired Army Lt. Keli Chevalier, founder and president of the charity Trauma to Triumph, told the tab. "This doesn't hurt me as much as it hurts the veterans."
However, Knowles told the paper, "I was told someone wanted additional time to set up. If they could not get that time, they wanted a refund ... So I offered them their refund ... We could give her a discount, but not additional time. That's how we run a business."
He accused his daughter of thriving on publicity
Keep in mind that Knowles has essentially made a career off of his daughter when you read the following: Remember that infamous elevator fight between Jay Z and Solange at the 2014 Met Gala and how no one involved commented on it afterward? Knowles swears it was somehow staged. "The Jedi mind trick fools you a lot of times," Knowles insisted in a radio interview (via Page Six). "So things you see sometimes are [smoke and mirrors] ... Everyone's talking about it. Ticket sales went up. Solange's album sales went up 200 percent."