Gladys Knight‘s son is speaking out about his mother and her health with some alarming accusations.
According to Vibe in an interview with The Shade Room, Shanga Hankerson and his ex-wife, Gloria, accused Knight’s husband, William McDowell, of “elder abuse” as his mother continues to tour despite alleged declining cognitive health. Hankerson has reportedly filed a complaint with the North Carolina Department of Human Services.
“I went and I hugged him and we hugged and he looked at me and he’s like ‘it’s so glad to see you.’ He said, ‘Shanga, it’s been so hard,’” recalled Hankerson of a reunion last year with Knight’s longtime road manager, Larry Ward. “I have never seen Larry break down and cry like that…I said ‘Well what is it, Larry?’ and he couldn’t put [it] into words.”
He continued to describe the performance at the aforementioned meetup.
“The band played about two or three extra bars, and she zoned out. The background singers started singing, and that brought her back. They’re having to rewind the teleprompters because my mom is forgetting to look at them.”
Hankerson added that his concern is not only about his mother’s on-stage presence and quality of performance. He recalled that at his sentencing, “she came to speak for me and she couldn’t form complete sentences and coherent thoughts,” after his 2021 guilty plea for failure to remit payroll taxes.
He also detailed alleged alarming text messages from McDowell, where her husband claimed she had “Sundowner’s Syndrome,” as well as incidents of Knight being confused or wandering away.
“I don’t want my mom out on tour on a tour bus wondering where she’s at. I don’t want that for her,” Hankerson expressed. ”That’s my mom, I truly love her. And don’t care about her ever working a second longer while she’s alive. The direction that she’s going in is pushing her to her departure, and I don’t want to see that.”
Knight is set to embark on the second leg of “The Queens! 4 Legends. 1 Stage,” tour next month with Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, and Stephanie Mills. The first installment of the tour wrapped in June.
“I’m extremely concerned about how she is being handled right now,” Hankerson remarked.
VIBE has contacted representatives for Gladys Knight for a statement on the accusations. Watch the full interview below.
