He's a survivor.
Mathew Knowles is opening up about his fight with breast cancer. The father of musicians Beyoncé and Solange Knowles sat down with Good Morning America's Michael Strahan for an exclusive interview on Wednesday morning, which was teased a day earlier on Twitter.
Over the summer, he noticed a small, reoccurring blood stain on his shirts. "I I told my wife and she says, 'You know I saw a dot of blood on the sheets,' so I immediately went to my doctor," Matthew, wed to Gena Charmaine Avery, said. "I got a mammogram and then it was very clear that I had breast cancer." (The businessman divorced Tina Knowles in 2011 after 30 years of marriage, but the two have an amicable relationship.)
His initial reaction was one of confusion. "Of all the things I could get, why would I get this?" he told the GMA host. "From a man's perspective, I'm thinking, 'Why me?'"
Genetic testing showed Matthew has the mutated BRCA2 gene, which also puts him at a higher risk for prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer and melanoma.
"The rest of my life I have to be very much aware and conscious and do all of the early detection," the 67-year-old said. "Constant mammograms, constant prostate exams, constant MRIs for the rest of my life."
Throughout this journey, his family has been right by his side. Indeed, they were his first call following his diagnosis. "It's genetics," Matthew shared. "It's also means that my kids have a higher chance, a higher risk. Even my grandkids have a higher risk. And they handled it like they should. They went and got the test."
Today, nearly three months since his July surgery, he's feeling stronger than ever. "I stopped drinking," he admitted to the former NFL star. "I wanted to just have a clean bill of health and do things, exercise, meditate...I just look at the world differently."
And now, he hopes he can encourage other men to not only get checked, but also speak up.
"I learned again that the numbers that we have for men on breast cancer are not adequate because we don't have enough men that come forward, that take the exam," Matthew revealed. "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."
Hear his story in the video above.
E! News has reached out to Beyoncé's rep for comment.
(This story was originally published on Tuesday, October 1 at 2:40 p.m. PST.)