Tina Knowles Recalls How Beyoncé Threw Up Between Songs While Secretly Pregnant at a Show
The businesswoman says her daughter was "as nauseated as she could be" at the 2011 performance.
Beyoncé and Tina Knowles attend the Los Angeles premiere of Disney's "Mufasa: The Lion King" at Dolby Theatre on Dec. 9, 2024 in Hollywood, California.
At her 2011 A Night With Beyoncé concert special taping, Bey was two months pregnant with Blue Ivy and suffering from severe nausea as a result — not that anyone in the crowd was any the wiser.
That’s because the Destiny’s Child alum powered through the performance like a true pro, according to her mom, Tina Knowles, who posted a throwback clip of Bey singing “Best Thing I Never Had” at the show on Instagram. “This just came across my feed! It took me down memory lane,” the businesswoman wrote on Tuesday (Jan. 6).
“This is one of the hardest shows we’ve ever done,” Knowles recalled. “Beyonce was about two months pregnant with Blue and as nauseated as she could be. In between songs, she would run back and throw up and come out and do the next song.”
“This is when I knew without a doubt how strong and resilient of a performer she was,” Knowles continued of her daughter. “We couldn’t tell anyone about the pregnancy … As sick as she was, she got through the show and killed her performances. All the band and crew knew was she [was] sick.”
The ITV concert special aired in December 2011, according to IMDb. In August of that year, Bey formally announced that she was expecting her first child with Jay-Z by debuting her baby bump at the VMAs, famously opening her jacket for the big reveal after performing “Love On Top” during the ceremony.
She would go on to welcome twins Rumi and Sir with Jay in 2017.
Knowles often looks back on high points in her daughter’s career on Instagram, and delved more deeply into her experience watching Bey navigate superstardom in the 2025 memoir Matriarch. Published in April, the book would go on to top The New York Times‘ hardcover nonfiction and combined print & E-book nonfiction bestsellers lists.
Also in Matriarch, the designer shared her side of the story of how the public called Bey’s first pregnancy into question after an optical illusion during a TV interview convinced many that it was fake. “The worst thing is that people had no idea how hard it was for Beyoncé to go through multiple miscarriages, and then when finally blessed to carry a baby to term, the world starts heckling you as you both try to make it to the finish line,” she wrote.
“This child was prayed for and prayed over — a wanted, cherished, real baby, and people were making a living off saying she was a lie.”
