Tina Knowles Defends Bonus Daughter Kelly Rowland’s Tense Exchange on the Cannes Red Carpet Earlier This Week, Praising Rowland’s “Beauty, Class, and Grace”

Yesterday, Kelly Rowland broke her silence about what exactly did happen during a seemingly heated exchange between Rowland and a security guard on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet earlier this week: “The woman knows what happened, I know what happened,” Rowland said of the moment, which happened Tuesday while she was attending the premiere of Marcello Mio. “I have a boundary, and I stand by those boundaries, and that is it.”

Rowland also said that there were “other women that attended that carpet who did not quite look like me, and they didn’t get scolded or pushed off or told to get off,” she said, adding “I stood my ground, and she felt like she had to stand hers.” 

Rowland isn’t Tina Knowles’ biological child, but she has always treated her like a third daughter. And now is no different—Knowles took to Instagram after Rowland spoke out about the incident, writing “And just like that, she @kellyrowland graces another carpet with her amazing glorious beauty, class and grace!!!!” Knowles wrote. “Sipping champagne and living her best life.” (Rowland appeared on the red carpet Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at Cannes—and the video Knowles posted was from Thursday.) Knowles added, poignantly, “This just goes to show that one silly monkey, don’t stop no-show!!! on to bigger and better things.”

Per Page Six (and back to Tuesday’s tense exchange), “the altercation in question occurred as Rowland made her way up a set of stairs, and a female security guard held her arm up behind the star, seemingly guiding her away from the crowd and into the venue. The woman, who was dressed in a black pantsuit, appeared to say something as well. Whatever transpired did not sit well with Rowland, who immediately turned to face the staffer.” 

A source told The Daily Mail that the security guard “scolded Kelly and told her to move when [Rowland] was trying to wave to fans and help the paparazzi get their shot,” they said. The source added that Rowland “wanted to set a clear boundary” with the staffer: “She doesn’t care if she comes across like a diva if she knows that she is advocating for herself,” they said. “She isn’t fake.” 

Rowland and Knowles have long had an extremely close relationship—as evidenced when Rowland and her fellow Destiny’s Child bandmates pulled off a reunion in the form of a private concert for Knowles’ 70th birthday back in January, Entertainment Tonight reports. 

“I just got spoiled to death this weekend,” Knowles said at the time on Instagram. “I even got serenaded by Destiny’s Child. How amazing is that? So I just want to thank everyone who sent me flowers, everyone that told me a happy birthday. I got so many well wishes. I’ve got so many bonus children—beautiful bonus children—and I just feel so blessed. I love you guys. I love you so much.”

The next month, Knowles returned the support for Rowland, joining daughter Beyoncé and son-in-law Jay-Z at the premiere of Rowland’s film Mea Culpa in New York City.