Tina Knowles-Lawson Bonds With Michelle Obama Over Teaching Daughters ‘Tough Lessons’ Early

Beyoncé is hailed for being one of the best performers to ever do it, and it’s thanks in part to the serious training she endured throughout her youth.

Queen Bey’s mom, Tina Knowles-Lawson, recently opened up about one of the “tough lessons” she had to teach her daughter early on when it came to perfecting her singing ability and stage presence.

While appearing on Michelle Obama’s Cross-Generational Conversation with Revolt, alongside singers H.E.R. and Kelly Rowland, supermodel-activist Winnie Harlow, and moderator Angie Martinez, Knowles-Lawson recalled her experience when teaching a young Beyoncé a lesson on how hard life can be despite the hard effort you put in.

“I remember Beyoncé being in the group at first…and someone coming in…she bought the other girl in, and the girl was older, like, stronger, and had a better voice at the time than her,” Knowles-Lawson recalled.

Martinez jokingly interjected that it was “not possible, not possible,” for there to be a better singer than Beyoncé, but Knowles-Lawson doubled down saying the former group member “was much older and stronger” than Bey.

Knowles-Lawson recalled Beyoncé “coming home and saying, ‘that’s not fair because I brought her there and, you know, they’re not even telling me thank you, and now she’s just singing all the lead.’”

Instead of coddling her daughter, the fashion designer encouraged Bey to take work harder and perfect her craft.

“And I’m like, you know what, I would go get in those voice lessons, and I’d just work twice as hard because the world ain’t fair,” she told her daughter.

“That was a really tough lesson for that age.”

However, Knowles-Lawson recalls how upset Beyoncé became over the advice.

“I hate you,” the young aspiring singer told her mom. “You not my best friend, and I hate you.”

Obama jumped in and shared how she told her two daughters, Malia and Sasha Obama, to “go in your room and say that because I don’t want to hear that. You can feel it.”

Tina replied: “But you know it’s not real, it’s just like when your kids say ‘you are not my best friend,’” she said. “Well, I don’t want to be your best friend.”