The Wildest Rumors About Beyoncé

Beyoncé is highly regarded as one of the most influential cultural figures in history. With a cool 32 Grammy awards, a Rolodex of business ventures, and a lengthy résumé of charitable efforts, Beyoncé truly lives up to her nickname, Queen Bey. And as "Britain's Got Talent" judge Alesha Dixon raved to Hello! in 2021, the hitmaker is just as sweet in person as we'd hoped. "[Beyoncé] is at the top of her game, one of the most successful and powerful women in the world but when you meet her, there is a humility and kindness and warmth that exudes from her, and I think that is a really strong lesson for lots of people."

Bottom line: There aren't many negative things to say about Beyoncé. But when such little dirt exists about a beloved public figure, people sometimes get creative and start looking for clues in places where they have no business. What you might have never known about Beyoncé is that wild, mind-boggling rumors seem to follow her as people love to obsess over anything remotely scandalous. We're not just talking about a bit of tittle-tattle about the "Cowboy Crooner," but full-blown conspiracy theories far more complex than the (false!) hearsay that she was paid $10 million to appear at Kamala Harris' rally during the 2024 presidential election. Below, we've compiled the most absurd Beyoncé rumors that will make you want to ring the alarm.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z live an insanely lavish life with multiple properties to their name. And according to some folks, singer Sia is not following suit because she was (or possibly still is!) being held captive in the basement of one of these lofty abodes. In 2016, social media in Brazil was ablaze with the theory that the "Irreplaceable" singer was holding Sia captive and forcing her to write songs for her. This lighthearted theory seemingly gained steam after Sia described collaborating with Beyoncé in a 2015 Rolling Stone interview as "like a writing camp," which somehow translated to a few online pranksters that Sia was locked in Beyoncé's basement.

OH MY GOD BEYONCÉ KIDNAPPED SIA #SaveSia pic.twitter.com/OG3erOSPgN

— Julian 🦦 (@jujuondembeatz) August 1, 2016

In fact, chronically online sleuths claimed that the "Cheap Thrills" singer was trying to covertly communicate with fans that she needed help via social media and through her music during this so-called hostage situation. They also claimed that the reason Sia wears a wig to perform was a mask the bruises she's incurred while living underground Beyoncé. A flood of memes, tweets, and the hashtag #SaveSia quickly took over social media, poking fun at the absurdity of it all. Thankfully, the overwhelmingly comedic response confirmed that no one actually believed Beyoncé had abducted Sia. Phew!

Having Beyoncé as an older sister could be overwhelming to some, but Beyoncé's and Solange Knowles's relationship over the years is filled with nothing but love. In fact, Beyoncé is wildly overprotective of her younger sis, penning "Might I suggest you don't f*** with my sis" in her song "Cozy." According to the rumor mill, that might be Bey's motherly instinct. As a refresher, Beyoncé was born in 1981, and Solange was born in 1986. However, some fans have long believed Beyoncé is older than she claims. This theory reached a breaking point in 2013 when BuzzFeed published the article "Is Solange Actually Beyoncé's Daughter?" after the internet seemingly went off the deep end. A now-deleted post on gossip site MediaTakeout claimed that someone who worked for the Texas Department of Health had seen Beyoncé's birth certificate and alleged her birth year was listed as 1974 instead of 1981.

To add more fuel to the fire, fans honed in on a quote Gabrielle Union, born in 1972, gave during an interview with the Boots Girls in 2008 (via Lipstick Alley): "Beyoncé and I have been friends since we were teenagers." They argued that the pair couldn't have been friends as teenagers unless they were close in age, making Beyoncé's 1974 birth seem more likely. From there, the internet concluded that Beyoncé gave birth to Solange as a teen, but her parents pretended Solange was their daughter to protect her.

When Beyoncé and Jay-Z's eldest daughter was born, there was a lot of speculation as to how Blue Ivy got her name as well as some rumors that Beyoncé didn't actually give birth to her. This bogus theory began after a pregnant Beyoncé appeared on the Australian talk show "Sunday Night" in October 2011, where fans couldn't help but notice that when she sat down for the interview, her bump seemingly folded inward, prompting speculation that her bump was fake. Beyoncé's publicist told ABC News at the time that the accusations were "stupid, ridiculous, and false." But #bumpgate supporters couldn't unsee that interview clip and quickly latched on to the theory that Blue Ivy must have been born via surrogate. Speaking to People in 2012 about the rumors, Beyoncé said: "That was crazy. It wasn't hurtful, it was just crazy, later adding "a fabric that folded—does fabric not fold? Oh my gosh, so stupid."

In her 2013 documentary "Life Is But a Dream," Beyoncé further questioned the absurdity of the claims, "Who even thinks that? Like, who would make that up .... You can't take it too seriously."

Beyoncé is arguably one of the biggest music legends to date, and according to some strange TikTok videos, her world tours may be to blame for the passing of other music powerhouses. Multiple videos on the platform point out that whenever Beyoncé begins a world tour, a major artist appears to die shortly after, starting with Michael Jackson, who passed in June 2009, just months after Beyoncé's "I Am... Sasha Fierce" world tour kicked off in March of that year

Other instances include Bobby Womack's June 2014 passing, which happened the same month Beyoncé and Jay-Z kicked off their "On the Run" tour. Meanwhile, Prince died in April 2016, which was also the same month that Beyoncé's "Formation" world tour began. In August 2018, two months into Beyoncé and Jay-Z's " On the Run II" world tour, Aretha Franklin passed away. Fast forward to May 2023, when "Reinassance" began, and later that month, the world lost Tina Turner. 

TikTokers also link Beyoncé's "The Miss Carter Show" world tour to Donna Summers' and Whitney Houston's deaths. However, Summers and Houston passed in 2012, and Beyoncé didn't announce that tour until February 2013 after her performance at the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show, which doesn't follow the pattern of the other deaths. In these TikToks alleging that Beyoncé's tours are associated with these deaths, no explanation is ever provided as to how this is possible. 

In October 2024, fans began exploring Beyoncé's connection to Sean "Diddy' Combs" amid the sexual misconduct allegations against him. In doing so, some hypothesized that Beyoncé' seemingly holds a godlike amount of power in the music industry causing other artists to strive to remain in her good graces out of fear. Others went even further down the rabbit hole, claiming that Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Diddy may have had something to do with R&B singer Aaliyah's 2001 tragic death, as she potentially posed a threat to Beyoncé's fame. Thus, the "Thank you, Beyoncé" theory, was born, which alleges that popular artists on Beyoncé's fame level have resorted to thanking her in their acceptance speeches at award shows — even when it doesn't necessarily make sense — to protect themselves. 

A deep dive into award show history shows that several music powerhouses habe name-dropped Beyoncé while at the podium. A notable example is when Adele beat Beyoncé for Album of the Year at the 2017 Grammy Awards and used her acceptance speech to praise Bey before breaking her award and giving her half. Lizzo, Lady Gaga, and Britney Spears have also found ways to applaud Beyoncé during award shows, sparking curiosity as to why. Some even believe that Kanye West's infamous interruption of Taylor Swift's 2009 MTV Video Music Awards speech — when he claimed Beyoncé deserved the award — was actually him trying to protect newcomer Swift.

In 2020, Florida politician K.W. Miller threw us all for a loop when he went on a rant slamming Beyoncé on X (formerly Twitter). "Beyoncé is not even African American. She is faking this for exposure. Her real name is Ann Marie Lastrassi. She is Italian," he wrote in a now-deleted tweet (via The Independent). Miller then asserted that there were "secret coded messages to globalists" in her song "Formation," but fortunately, no one seemed to buy into it.

That said, there is a rumor involving potential name changes within Destiny's Child, though it's not as bizarre as Miller's claim — but perhaps as scandalous. As a refresher, Beyoncé's father, Matthew Knowles, was the group's longtime manager, and there's been speculation that he worked overtime to ensure his daughter stood out. After nixing OG members LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett, he brought in Kelendria Rowland and Tenitra Michelle Williams — better known as Kelly Rowland and Michelle Willams. If you're wondering why you never heard their full names, the theory suggests that Matthew made the women change their names so Beyoncé's unique moniker and person would overshadow the others. As one person pointed out in a Reddit discussion about Destiny's Child potentially being set up to just market Beyoncé as a star and not the others, one user wrote, "I mean, there's a reason they were called 'Destiny's CHILD,' not 'Destiny's Children.'"