Bey & Solange's Mom Sent Them To Therapy As Kids & It Worked

Sibling rivalries are so real. I remember fighting with my younger brother over toys — hard to imagine how real the fighting would be if my sibling happened to be Beyoncé and I were Solange. Queen Bey has been performing since she was just eight years old, when she was a member of Girl’s Tyme. It is easy to imagine a lot of sibling arguments ensuing — but instead, the Knowles sisters are #sistergoals who prop each other up with genuine love and compassion. Their bond was forged in their childhood because Bey and Solange’s mother, Tina Knowles-Lawson, had the foresight to address any looming sibling discord. Appearing on a Facebook Live segment with journalist Maria Shriver, Knowles-Lawson explains how she kept harmony between the Knowles sisters: she took them to a child therapist to deal with Bey’s burgeoning fame.

“I wanted Beyoncé to be sensitive to the fact that Solange had to deal with being a little bit in her shadow,” said Knowles-Lawson. She said that she encouraged her daughters to support one another, and stepped in when young Beyoncé was “irritated” by her little sister. Knowles-Lawson also made sure that Solange received the attention she needed as a child. She explains that she took Wednesdays off of work to spend quality time with her younger daughter (Solange is five years younger than Beyoncé), and was sensitive to Solange’s needs.

She also said that their family was initially dubious of sending the Knowles girls to counseling, but today, the results of the therapy speak for themselves. Therapy taught young Beyoncé about empathy, and those lessons have stayed with her throughout her life — Beyoncé is beloved for her ability to shine her spotlight on others and uplift those who don’t have her level of visibility. Knowles-Lawson was “adamant” that her girls wouldn’t grow up viewing as other as competition, and Solange received so much “positive reinforcement and support” that she able to develop her own creative spirit. Beyoncé even took those lessons to heart when she was younger — she was never jealous of, for instance, her backup dancers.

Today, Beyoncé and Solange are forces in their own right, but work together with passion and creativity, not competition. “They’re still fiercely protective of each other,” said Knowles-Lawson. Solange even famously taught Beyonce how to “speak her mind” and stood up for her older sister in that elevator situation. The Knowles sisters frequently collaborate on music together; Solange helps Beyoncé discover new music, and Beyoncé invited her sister to join her on the Coachella stage. It’s the kind of sound parenting advice that we can all get behind, and we all benefit from their creativity.