Mathew Knowles, the father of pop singers Beyonce and Solange Knowles, has revealed he was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year.
The 67-year-old told Good Morning America he was “doing really good” after having surgery in July.
Knowles said he went to his doctor and got a mammogram after seeing recurring dots of blood on his shirt and sheets.
The music executive and public speaker admitted he had thought “why me?” on learning he had the condition.
“Of all the things I could get, why would I get this?” he told GMA interviewer Michael Strahan.
Male breast cancer is rare and usually occurs in men over 60.
.@MathewKnowles’ message for others after his breast cancer diagnosis: “I’m hoping by me coming here today, speaking out, letting folks know, that you can survive this but it has to be early detection and I can’t overemphasize the word early.” https://t.co/zMRJ4O03lS pic.twitter.com/pctiQAP4Y8
— Good Morning America (@GMA) October 2, 2019
Knowles said he would have to be “very much aware and conscious” for the rest of his life and that he now “looked at the world differently”.
“Things that used to important are not important to me now,” he said in an interview aired on the ABC network on Wednesday.
Knowles, a former Xerox salesman, is best known for putting together Destiny’s Child, the band that launched his eldest daughter Beyonce to stardom. He also managed her solo career until 2011.
He divorced Beyonce and Solange’s mother Tina in 2011 and has since had two more children with his second wife Gena.
“The first calls I made were to my kids and my former wife Tina,” he told the GMA website. “My wife, Gena, already knew.
“I want to continue the dialogue on awareness and early detection – male or female. The key to this is early detection.
“I need men to speak out if they’ve had breast cancer,” he continued. “I need them to let people know they have the disease, so we can get correct numbers and better research.
“Men want to keep it hidden, because we feel embarrassed – and there’s no reason for that.”
Breast cancer in men
It is much rarer than it is among women – in the UK, 319 men were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, compared with around 46,000 women, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The outlook for men varies depending on how far the disease has spread by the time it is diagnosed, the NHS says.
Signs of breast cancer in men can include a lump in the breast, the nipple turning inwards and fluid oozing from the nipple. Find out more on the NHS website.