Beyoncé’s Dad, Mathew Knowles, Opens Up on Recovering from Male Breast Cancer

A parent who sees so much talent in their child that they back it up with their own career has a special kind of instinct. Mathew Knowles, the father of Beyoncé and Solange who’s been credited with founding Destiny’s Child, now presents lessons for entrepreneurs and executives as a motivational speaker to share the wisdom that his Instagram bio suggests has contributed to $5 billion generated across multiple industries.

But when his kids were young, Mr. Knowles, now 72, was working in an industry that gave him wisdom for a different area of his life that would come in handy at a later and very critical time: In 2019, Mr. Knowles and his wife, Gena, caught a symptom that would lead to his breast cancer diagnosis. He knew to seek answers right away and ultimately was treated with a mastectomy.

Now five years in remission, Mr. Knowles has partnered with AstraZeneca on the BeBRCAware campaign. It aims to educate people about the importance of genetic testing, understanding family history and risks for breast, prostate and other cancers, and knowing how the presence of an inherited BRCA mutation can help inform your care.

Today there’s advice that Mr. Knowles wants men to know—and as someone who might be thought of as a champion for women, there’s some inspiration he hoped to share with us, too.

This interview has been edited for length.

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The Healthy by Reader’s Digest: Mr. Knowles, this is such an important topic that our team has covered for several years, but nothing helps raise awareness like a prominent voice. Before we get into the specifics of your journey with male breast cancer, we first want to ask: Is there a message, after everything you’ve learned, that you would say to men in regard to breast cancer?

Mathew Knowles: It would be the same thing I would say to women. Just to rewind context on what I’m about to say: In 1980, I worked with the medical division of Xerox xeroradiography for breast cancer detection. So I’ve been in this field and I’ve been on the bandwagon since 1980, talking about the importance. I would say early detection is extremely important to find whatever diagnosis. It is the answer, in my opinion—that’s what I would say to everyone. That’s the beauty about genetic testing—it gives us an opportunity to understand genetically maybe some predisposed issues that we have—especially for women, breast cancer and ovarian cancer; and for men, prostate cancer, male breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and melanoma.

The Healthy: What led up to your diagnosis? Did you have any symptoms or genetic testing done?

Mathew Knowles: No, I had not had genetic testing. [I] didn’t even know what genetic testing was testing until my surgery. But again, it goes back to 1980 and mammography equipment. We had training, obviously, and in that training in the ’80s, we talked about male breast cancer and knowing the symptoms of male breast cancer.

One day I was taking off a T-shirt and I saw these red dots. And the next day I saw these red dots. I asked my wife, “Hey, see these red dots?” and she told me she was seeing dots of blood on my side of the bed when she cleaned the sheets. And because of that training, I knew that there was a possibility that I had breast cancer. I called my referring physician and got a mammogram. And during the surgery for my mastectomy, that’s when the genetic test was done, and then I found out that I had BRCA2 [mutation].

The Healthy: What was it like to get your diagnosis?

Mathew Knowles: When you have knowledge and information, how you react is different than when you don’t have the knowledge and information. So how I reacted was different because I had the training and I knew pretty much that there was a strong possibility that I had breast cancer, so I had already processed that internally. I was not that surprised because we went through the process first of the mammogram and biopsy. Because of my history, I was talking to the surgeon all the time. I was actually looking at the mammogram before the radiologist looked at it. That’s why it’s so important to [have] genetic testing, because you’re getting this information that you can share with family members and your doctors.

The Healthy by Reader’s Digest: Anyone who’s been through cancer themselves or with a loved one knows those routine checkups can bring up a lot of emotions. It’s a big deal to be five years in remission.

Mathew Knowles: Well, it is a big deal. Something that is really critical … is the mental health aspect of it all. I have a therapist, and I talk with him frequently about my cancer. For me, I always say, “Today I’m cancer free.” I don’t go past that. I just say, “Today I’m cancer free.” Two weeks ago, I got my mammogram, I got a prostate check, MRI. I got my blood test. I want to continue to do those things that keep me informed. If there is a problem, we’ll find it at an early stage.

The Healthy by Reader’s Digest: What are you looking forward to now? Is there anything specific you’re working on?

Mathew Knowles: I’m a motivational speaker, so all of my life, the two things I’ve done are educate and motivate. I’ve been in different fields, but even as a manager in music, I’m educating and motivating my artists.

I’m really excited about the relationship that I’ve built with AstraZeneca and this beBRCAware program, which is critical awareness and information. I don’t take it lightly that I have a platform that most people don’t have to be able to talk about things that sometimes are uncomfortable for people.

For more wellness updates, subscribe to The Healthy by Reader’s Digest newsletter and follow The Healthy on Facebook and Instagram. Keep reading:

• ‘Here’s How I Knew I Had Breast Cancer’: One Survivor’s Story Following a Slightly Delayed Mammogram
• 9 Symptoms of Breast Cancer That Aren’t Lumps
• My Breast Lump Wasn’t Cancer—It Was a Sign of High Cholesterol

• “Here’s How I Knew I Had Prostate Cancer”: One Patient’s Story of Abruptly Elevated Markers