Richard Lawson: 5 Things About Tina Knowles’ Ex After She Files For Divorce

Beyonce’s mom married Richard Lawson in 2015. Learn about the prolific actor amid news Tina Knowles just filed for divorce.

• Tina Knowles is the famous mother of pop legend Beyonce
• She married actor Richard Lawson in 2015
• On July 26, news emerged Tina filed for divorce after 8 years of marriage

Tina Knowles, 69, and Richard Lawson, 76, married in 2015, at the height of her daughter Beyonce‘s fame. But it wasn’t meant to be, as the fashion designer filed for divorce against him on July 26, 2023, per TMZ. She cited the typical “irreconcilable differences” and claimed their date of separation to be yesterday, July 25.

Information on the split is currently scarce, but the highly respected entrepreneur did request that the court terminate any ability to award spousal support to either party, and requested that her name be changed legally back to Celestine Knowles. Amid news that the Hollywood power couple are parting ways, here’s what to know about Richard Lawson, the man who was Beyonce’s stepfather for eight years.

He served in Vietnam

According to his Wikipedia page, Richard (nee Rickey Lee Lawson) was wounded in action in Vietnam, where he served 21 months with the United States Army. He also became a medic during that time, and perhaps most impressively, earned a Purple Heart. 

“I didn’t want to die,” he said in a July 1992 interview with Ebony of a particular memory of his time in Vietnam. “It was my birthday, my 21st birthday, and I didn’t want to celebrate it with a bullet. This particular day was memorable because we were in the middle of a heavy fire fight and although I had faced death almost every day, I was especially frightened because I didn’t want to die on my birthday. Bullets were flying all around me. I was afraid of dying.”

Richard is an actor

Richard is a prolific and accomplished actor. He appeared in household name films and TV shows over the years, including horror classic Poltergeist, beloved ABC soap opera All My Children, primetime soap Dynasty, comedy hit The Bernie Mac Show, and classic 1983 NBC miniseries V. 

He’s worked steadily in film and television from 1971’s Dirty Harry to his most recent project, a 2022 appearance in The Ms. Pat Show. 

He has children of his own

Before he famously married the mother of one of the world’s biggest stars, Richard was married to fellow actress Denise Gordy from 1978-1989. Together, the former couple welcomed two children, actress Bianca Jasmine Lawson in 1979, and songwriter Ricky Lawson, born in 1992.

Richard is a Flight 405 Survivor

On March 22, 1992, Richard boarded a flight from LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York that would later become infamous. The actor survived the USAir Flight 405 crash with 47 passengers aboard. 27 of them would perish en route to Cleveland, Ohio, as the plane crashed into the water in Flushing Bay, New York.

He’s a California native

Richard was born on March 7, 1947, in Loma Linda, California. He’d later attend Riverside College there, and of course, marry Tina Knowles on a yacht in Newport Beach.