Wednesday, 1 August 2007

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Beyoncé Knowles: I love being around women

The pop star talks about supportive females

No, she's not ditching her longtime love Jay Z. But Beyoncé Knowles, 25, says she has a particular affinity for women.

"I grew up in a house with so many women," the singer, 25, tells the Associated Press. "I love being around women, I love being around talented women and supportive women."

Asked about her decision to audition and hire only females for her current world tour, Knowles says she has no regrets: "Everyone is so supportive of each other. We do things together, like yesterday we went skating; I rented out a roller skating rink for all of us and everybody's families to come."

However, the headliner does admit to having had some reservations about creating such an estrogen-fueled tour, and wondering if everyone would get along.

"I was afraid of that in the beginning when I had the idea," she says. "I was like, this will never work ... [but] I found focused and incredible musicians that are just as good or better than any guy. And then I was like, well, even if I do find it, after a while, there will be some problems."

After a laugh, she adds, "But it hasn't been any problems, and everyone is just talented and secure and excited."

In a roundabout way, Knowles also addresses the spill she took last week, when she fell face first down a flight of stairs during an Orlando concert, only to recover and complete her number nearly without missing a beat.

"The easiest part is dancing in the heels," she says. "I don't even think about it anymore; it's just second nature. But it is difficult to dance, to sing at the same time. I have to make sure I'm in shape and I'm hydrated ... I don't want to wear myself out and get exhausted."

She also discusses what she doesn't do in her spare time: surf the Internet for gossip about herself.

Says Knowles, "Sometimes I'll run across certain things, usually in the paper, because I read the paper more so than the Web. There's one or two sites that I can go to. But if I go on the Internet and try to see what people are saying, I'll probably want to crawl under a rock."

Again, she laughed, then added, "Because I'm still human and certain things, it just hurts, so I try not to read the Internet too much."