THEN_NOW2

JN: I know LeToya and LaTavia issued a letter that had to do with management in December. I guess what they had said with that letter was that their intent was never to leave the group. Do you guys feel that that was the only alternative at that point?

Beyonc�: I feel like to fire a manager, half of the group, I feel like you don't do that without talking to the other half of the group.

K: Communication comes in again.

Beyonc�: I think, well, I know that Kelly and I were on the phone talking to Columbia Records about the video for "Say My Name," and while we're doing this, we're getting a letter to the office that [LeToya and LaTavia] fired our management, and I don't think that's a decision that can be made by half of the group. I think if they felt that, first of all, they should have discussed it in the meeting that we had just recently had... I don't think that a letter should be sent without discussing anything.

JN: When those letters came in, was your feeling that, "You know what, the only way to handle this is we've gotta split?"

Beyonc�: Definitely.

Kelly: That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Honestly. You just can't go back then. We were just stressed, emotionally stressed. There was something brought up every day, and we were constantly hiding it, and trying to work through it, but... [shakes head]

Beyonc�: It wasn't only the fact that they fired our manager, who is my father --

Kelly: But it doesn't even have anything to do with Matthew being her father. It's the fact that he's been there since the beginning for us. Not only as a manager but as a protector, as someone there that's like a father, but a manager first and foremost, and always been supporting us since day one.

Beyonc�: They had no reason to fire him. I mean, if you ask them why, they can bring up lots of things that they say, but they had no reason to fire him. I think that's why they didn't discuss it with us before.

JN: If you go online and you see all these fan postings, and a lot of them speculate that the girls felt like they weren't getting their fair share of material things... [LaTavia and LeToya] said to Chris [Connelly, of MTV News] that it was more about control. Obviously, they want to have more input and more say-so into the group than they had when they were little girls.

Beyonc�: I don't understand how they didn't. As far as our album titles, our videos, our clothes, our songs -- Destiny's Child came up with all of that. There have been many occasions where we've asked, "Okay, it's time to come up with the title." They never gave any input. It got to the point where they no longer cared. It was like, "Okay, I want to get my check," and that's it. Their interest and the hunger for being a member of Destiny's Child and having fans and performing, it was no longer there. It was no longer a passion and a love, it was more like a job. [RealVideo]

K: We started bumping heads on that.

JN: Did it turn into a sort of "you vs. them?"

Beyonc�: Yes.

Kelly: It was obvious. The writing was on the wall. If you read the thank-yous in the album "The Writing's On The Wall," it's very obvious that there was two against two there.

Beyonc�: In the beginning stages, when we were young kids, we did everything as a group. And I understand once you get older, and you're around people for so long, you want to take a break. That's fine and that's understandable if you don't wanna see each other every day or whatever. But when it becomes a separation with everything, then it becomes a conflict in the group. When you're a group, then you have to be a group. You can't be two and two. Anyone who ever was around us would notice that two would be here, two would be there. That can't work in a group. Everyone has to work as one. That's why we're Destiny's Child, not Children. We feel like we represent one.