Destiny's Child on the Shelf

The Grammy-winning R&B trio of Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams tell E!'s Jules Asner they are planning to put the band on indefinite hiatus.

"Well, Destiny's Child put out four albums in four years, which is unbelievable. That doesn't happen a lot. We've been working, Kelly and I, since we were nine, nonstop. So I think Destiny's Child is gonna take a little break," says Knowles in an interview airing tonight on E! News Daily (the complete interview will be shown on Revealed on February 26).

When asked when they would regroup, Rowland says there's no real timetable. "You know how the Beatles broke off, they all did their solo projects and they came back together and they were even stronger." (That's not quite how it worked, Kelly, but we get the idea.)

Adds Knowles: "I think the great thing about us doing this is we will all have to develop individually. You're in a group and it's kind of like your girls are like your security blanket. Even doing interviews is real scary. But hopefully we'll be able to do a tour and do our own songs and Destiny's Child songs."

Of all the members, Knowles has been doing the most individual developing. She made her acting debut last year in MTV's Hip-Hopera: Carmen and will make her feature debut next July in Austin Powers: Goldmember.

There's no word on when the group will split, but it won't likely be until the middle of next year. The trio is still committed to playing their rescheduled European tour in May (which was postponed in the wake of the terror attacks).

Destiny's Child's pending hiatus is just the latest chapter in a group that has packed plenty of Behind the Music-type turmoil in its four-year recording history.

The Houston-based group launched in the early '90s before the original lineup of Knowles, her cousin Rowland, LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett even hit puberty. After a gig on Star Search, they got their big break in 1997 by landing the song "Killing Time" on the Men in Black soundtrack. A year later, they released their self-titled debut album, which contained the charting single "No, No, No (Part II)" with Wyclef Jean.

Trouble started brewing after the release of their hit second album, The Writing's on the Wall, in 1999. Despite two smash singles--"Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name"--Roberson and Luckett groused about their perceived second-class treatment. They eventually sued the band and manager, Matthew Knowles (who happens, not so coincidentally, to be the father of Beyoncé and guardian of Rowland), and were bounced from the group in 2000.

Roberson and Luckett were replaced by Williams and Farrah Franklin, both of whom turned up in the video for "Say My Name" even though they didn't actually perform the song on the album.

By the end of Y2K, just months after joining, Franklin became the third Destiny's Child casualty, leaving the group with its current lineup. (Franklin has since started a solo career and Roberson and Luckett settled their suit and formed a group called Angel.)

This has been a busy year for Destiny's Child. "Say My Name" earned them two Grammys in February. Their third album, Survivor, topped the charts when it was released in May and spawned the hits "Survivor" and "Bootylicious." Their Yule-themed 8 Days of Christmas came out in October and they also contributed vocals to the all-star charity remake of the Marvin Gaye classic "What's Going On?" and participated in the United We Stand: What More Can I Give? concert in Washington, D.C., both of which benefited September 11 relief efforts.