Beyoncé supports Kelly Rowland at 'Mea Culpa' premiere: 'Dats my best friend!'
Beyoncé stepped out for the New York premiere of Tyler Perry's "Mea Culpa" to support the leading lady and her best friend Kelly Rowland.
The "Single Ladies" singer took to Instagram to share photos from Rowland's big night, including a group shot with her bestie, her mom, Tina Knowles, her cousin, Angie Beyince, and her husband, Jay-Z. Rowland's new movie debuts on Netflix Feb. 23.
"Dats my best friend! Dats my best friend!!!!! So proud of you Kelly," Beyoncé captioned the Instagram carousel.
Earlier that day on Feb. 15, Rowland, who stopped by TODAY to promote her new film, had only great things to say about Beyoncé's forthcoming country album, titled "act ii," which is a continuation of her Grammy-winning project "Renaissance."
"I’m so proud of her," Rowland said. "So happy for her."
The singer also confirmed that she is "working on new music."
“That’s all I can tell you,” she said.
The "Coffee" singer regularly boasts about her former Destiny's Child bandmate, calling her a trendsetter who should have taken home the album of the year Grammy “a couple times."
In an interview with ET, while on the red carpet for the Feb. 6 Los Angeles premiere of "Bob Marley: One Love," Rowland responded to a question about how Beyoncé's artistry is "ahead of the curve."
“She is an icon, the icon that she is, and that’s for a reason. It’s because she starts trends," Rowland said. "She is innovative, her thoughts are big and bright and she just jumps for them and does it."
The "Motivation" singer also reacted to Jay-Z's speech at the Grammys, where he called out the Recording Academy for overlooking his wife, Beyoncé, for the coveted album of the year award.
"I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone, and never won album of the year," he had said, seemingly referring to his wife. "So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work."
Rowland agreed, telling ET that Beyoncé's albums are a reflection of her innovations and "should be really celebrated in that way -- album of the year a couple times.”
The friendship between the two singers extends beyond three decades. The two went from living together, to performing together, to becoming aunts to each other's children.
Rowland was 11 when she moved in with Beyoncé and her family, the "Halo" singer's mom, Tina Knowles, said in a 2015 essay for TIME.
Prior to Rowland moving in, she and Beyoncé were already singing together at age 9 in what would later become their legendary girl group Destiny's Child, the "Cuff It" singer said in a 2004 interview.
The two have been best friends ever since, undoubtedly becoming closer with each life stage they tackle. They're now both married with kids: Rowland, who shares two sons, Titan, 8, and Noah, 2, with husband Tim Weatherspoon; and Beyoncé, who shares three kids, Blue Ivy, 11, and 6-year-old twins, Rumi and Sir, with husband Jay-Z.
Rowland and Beyoncé made their mark in the music industry with Destiny’s Child, which primarily included Michelle Williams as the third member, but LeToya Luckett, Farrah Franklin and LaTavia Roberson were also members at various times. Outside of the group, Beyoncé and Rowland have continued to break barriers and shape trends as solo artists. When Beyoncé became the first Black woman to headline Coachella in 2018, Rowland and Michelle joined her in a surprise Destiny's Child reunion.
Although the group has yet to announce if they will officially reunite for a sixth album, Rowland did acknowledge that she loves being on stage with her close friends.
"Of course I miss us being on stage," Rowland said on TODAY in 2016, "but I don't miss the ladies in that way (because) I see them all the time. We are still family. Those are my sisters. I call them when there's great news, bad news, OK news. I love them to death. Michelle and Bey are my gems, the gems of my life."
Here's what Beyoncé and Rowland have said about their decades-long friendship over the years.
1999: 'We always got to stay on top'
Beyoncé, Rowland and Luckett did a joint interview in 1999 in which they were asked to describe each other. They took turns and Rowland was the one to describe Beyoncé.
"Beyoncé is like the mother of the group," Rowland said. "She's very caring. She's very wise and she's like the perfectionist. If we need to get something straight, if we need to get our attitudes straight, she's like, "Come on, y'all, we've got to get on top of it. We got to be 'Destiny's Child.' We always got to stay on top.'"
"She's very supportive," Rowland added.
2004: 'So close that you can't explain it to people'
Beyoncé, Rowland and Williams appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2004 to discuss Destiny's Child fifth and final album, which released that year. They each had previously done solo albums in addition to their group albums.
Beyoncé said in the interview that they came back together after solo albums because they've always been friends first.
"We grew up together and we been in this group since we were 9 years old," Beyoncé said. "We've shared our best memories and moments and some of our hardest moments. And that forces you to get so close that you can't explain it to people."
"It was so important for us to maintain our friendship," she said.
2009: 'Destiny's Child' once threatened one of Solange's bullies
Beyoncé shared a childhood story with David Letterman in 2009 in which she said the members of Destiny's Child, which included Rowland, confronted a student who was bullying her younger sister, Solange, who was around 9 at the time.
"Me and my girls all showed up and we surrounded him," Beyoncé recalled in the interview.
"We're like, 'You been messing with my sister. I'm telling you — you've been warned," she declared. "And tell them 'Destiny's Child' has warned you."
"So we were real gangster," she added, chuckling.
2016: 'I'm excited for her'
Rowland was asked about a Destiny's Child reunion in a 2016 interview with the "Breakfast Club" and said while she's still close with Williams and Beyoncé, the idea about the group reuniting to make music doesn't really come up in their conversation.
"The last time me and Bey were together was like I think two weeks ago when I stopped by rehearsals and we talk about everything else," she said. "We really, really do. We talk about play dates with the kids and we talk about vacations and new opportunities."
At the time, Beyoncé was rumored to be working on an album, which was later announced as the visual album "Lemonade."
When asked about the album, Rowland said, "I'm very excited about it."
"I'm excited for her, for everybody else," she said.
2020: Beyoncé celebrates Rowland on Instagram
When Rowland released her single "Coffee" in 2020, Beyoncé did three posts on Instagram to mark the occasion. Two posts were clips of the music video and the third was a picture of Rowland.
"Get Your Coffee!" Beyoncé captioned the picture.
2022: 'We both shine together'
Rowland and Beyoncé have been compared to each other since their "Destiny's Child" days. In an interview with Hot 97 in 2022, the two were once again compared and Rowland was quick to dismiss the comparison, noting that they were both equally great.
"Light attracts light," she said. "I am light. I am a beautiful, brown shining light. So, I don't think anybody's light dims anyone else's. I think that when other people start to compare you, I think that that's when it shows how dim they are of themselves. So I don't take somebody else trying to dim my light anymore — from anybody else. I love Bey. I know that she's a light. But I know that I'm a light too."
She then added that she dislikes, "when they just put one person in one place."
"We both shine together," she later added, while also noting, "That's my family. We're there for each other's children's births."
Rowland says there was a time when other people's comparisons of them did impact Rowland. But the singer says she was able to overcome it.
"It had to take maturity and being in my own space, loving my own space, and realizing my own power and what I bring to the table," she said.
2023: 'Til the wheels fall off'
Rowland is known to celebrate Beyoncé on her Sept. 4 birthday with a sweet post honoring her bestie.
"Til the Wheels Fall Off!!" Rowland captioned her most recent Instagram post for Bey's 42 birthday. I Love You!!! HAPPY BORNDAY B!"
2024: 'Honor her'
In a Feb. 6 interview with ET, Rowland reacted to Jay-Z's Grammy speech in which he called out the Recording Academy for overlooking Beyoncé for the coveted album of the year award.
“I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone, and never won album of the year,” he had said, seemingly referring to his wife. “So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work.”
Rowland agreed, telling the outlet that Beyoncé’ “should be really celebrated" and should have won "album of the year a couple times.”
The Destiny's Child singer also responded to Beyoncé's "gift" of being a trendsetter.
“She is an icon, the icon that she is and that’s for a reason. It’s because she starts trends," she said. "She is innovative, her thoughts are big and bright and she just jumps for them and does it. And I think that her albums are a reflection of that."
The mom of two noted that despite their close relationship and Beyoncé being her "sister," her assessment of the pop star is based on "the truth."
“I’ve seen the blood, sweat and tears that she puts into these projects, and her thoughts and her heart and her passion and her soul," she said. "But you know what, the way people honor her, and the way they show up for her, I think she sees and she sees it from her heart."
"So I think when you honor her and you are kind and you go out and you support the way people did for the movie, the way they wore all silver, that’s the way she sees that and I’m sure her heart is full," she added.
During an interview on TODAY Feb. 15, Rowland revealed she was back in the studio working on new material.
“I’m working on new music. That’s all I can tell you,” she said.
She also praised Beyoncé for her forthcoming country album, Act 2, which is part of her of Grammy-winning album “Renaissance.” Beyoncé announced the album during the 2024 Super Bowl Feb. 11 and has released two singles from it, "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages."
“I’m so proud of her," she said when asked about Beyoncé's new album. "So happy for her.”
Beyoncé returned the support later that day by attending the New York premiere of Rowland's new movie, "Tyler Perry's Mea Culpa," which debuts on Netflix Feb. 23.
The “I Care” singer posted pictures of them at the Feb. 15 premiere the morning after. Beyoncé's husband, Jay-Z, and her mother, Tina Knowles, were also in the group picture.
“Dats my best friend! Dats my best friend!!!!! So proud of you Kelly,” Beyoncé wrote.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
