Beyoncé Did Her First On-Camera Interview in a Million Years
Beyoncé does not like to give interviews (though she has done them in W, but that was when she was in a more giving phase of her career)—unless, of course, she’s the one directing the interview herself, such as in her recent Homecoming documentary. Over the past few years she’s rarely given any interviews to the media at all; in 2015, the superstar even became the first person to pose for the cover of Vogue without granting the publication an interview (rather, there was an “as-told-to” essay that Bey penned with the help of journalist Clover Hope). But when she attended mother Tina Knowles Lawson’s third annual Wearable Art Gala in Los Angeles earlier this month, the Queen was interviewed. On camera, no less!
Beyoncé arrived at the gala dressed like a high-fashion lion, quite literally embodying her character Nala from the upcoming live-action Lion King remake (the event’s theme was “A Journey to The Pride Lands”). She walked the red carpet with husband Jay Z and their eldest daughter Blue Ivy, and, in an interview for a special for the Oprah Winfrey Network, she said she loves the Wearable Art Gala because it’s “one of the only red carpets I get to do with my family.”
But Beyoncé also used the platform to highlight the work of young black artists. “My mother and Richard [Lawson, Tina’s husband] believe that art is a representation of our history,” she continued. “Right now there’s a shift, in these incredibly talented emerging black artists getting their due. I love so many great African-American artists, and I’m just so excited that these young black artists are getting their due.”
The Wearable Art Gala serves as a fundraiser for WACO, a Los Angeles performing arts center founded by the Lawsons. Beyoncé, who served as the event’s co-chair alongside sister Solange Knowles-Ferguson and Kelly Rowland, praised both the way her mother raised her, and her dedication to charity work. “My mother just praised being black, and made sure that we were proud and very aware of our roots,” she said. “We saw how beautiful and profound black women were. And how different we were, how you couldn’t put us in one box. And how it was all black and beautiful!”
“My mother has always been an entrepreneur, and she’s taking that and teaching these young women that they can be entrepreneurs, exposing them to things that they would probably never see,” she added. “She dedicates her life to it, and she’s found the perfect partner, Richard, who is just a kind, honest, beautiful human being who dedicates his life to the well-being of these kids. It’s about the impact that you’ve had on this Earth. My mother always believed that every person in this world has a purpose, and I think her gift is helping people realize their purpose a lot faster.”
