An Angus woman whose battle with Parkinson’s disease prevents her from attending big concerts says it would be a dream come true to meet her idol Beyoncé at one of the star’s reported upcoming “intimate” UK gigs.
Gwen Denholm, from Kirriemuir, uses a wheelchair and relies on carers to help her on a daily basis.
The 55-year-old is a long-term superfan of Beyoncé, who she first discovered while listening to the radio during her daily commute to work in the early 2000s.
Gwen is even the creator of a Facebook fan group dedicated to the US singer, which has over 12,600 members.
She even says her love of the star’s music saved her life during a mental health battle.
When it was rumoured last week Beyonce is planning a series of small pop-up performances in the UK to promote her next album, Gwen was over the moon.
Beyhive Momma says it’s her dream to meet Beyoncé
Gwen says she isn’t well enough to attend large stadium concerts.
The retired nurse says she finds it “impossible” to secure accessible tickets to concerts, as they are limited and sell out quickly.
Gwen said: “It would just be absolutely agony for me sitting through a big concert.
“Once I’ve been bumped about in the car for a couple of hours I’m left with a lot of stiffness and pain.
“But if I went to a small venue where I could get up out of my wheelchair, maybe have a wee walk about, sit back down again, I would be okay.
“And the intimacy of it as well means I wouldn’t be getting pushed around if there was a lot of people there.
“I’m just desperate to get to one of these little shows.
“It’s my dream. Beyoncé always says ‘dream big’ and I’m dreaming big.”
According to The Sun, Beyoncé’s team is scouting out venues in the UK for the special shows ahead of a “huge tour”.
The exclusive performances will allow a select number of fans to get up close and personal with the singer.
It comes after Beyoncé announced last week that her seventh solo album – the first in six years – will be released on July 29.
The first single titled Break My Soul, from the album, Renaissance, was released on Tuesday.
BREAK MY SOUL pic.twitter.com/tICrPPCj8B
— TIDAL (@TIDAL) June 21, 2022
Gwen said: “I’ve got to meet her, I cannot let this go.
“I’ve got to meet her if she comes to the UK.”
She wants to tell Beyoncé how her Facebook group, named ‘Beyhive Momma‘, has helped people around the world with their mental health.
‘Our love for Beyoncé has saved a lot of lives’
She said: “We are a fan-based group but we also are very linked to mental health challenges. We help each other.
“Members have got the choice of posting anonymously to get help on the group if they don’t want to say who they are.
“I feel that the love that we all have for Beyoncé – and everything that we can say and do about everything that she empowers and goes for and follows in her heart – has saved a lot of lives in my group, including my own.”
Gwen, who also suffers from bipolar disorder, recounts how Beyoncé’s music helped her when she was admitted to the mental health ward at the now closed Sunnyside Royal Hospital in Hillside.
She said: “I wasn’t one for mixing very much with people on the wards, so I tended to go about with headphones on and sort of will myself better through her music and her experiences and everything that she stands for.
“I thought ‘I can do this. I can do this’. And I used her music to get myself better.”
Gwen, who lives with her husband and has two children in their thirties, decided to create the online group after going viral on social media thanks to her love of Beyoncé.
‘It went absolutely crazy’
A photo of her “giving it the middle fingers” to her Beyoncé-hating neighbours got more than 20,000 retweets and over 150,000 likes on Twitter.
The picture was originally posted on the Beyoncé Facebook fan group ‘Beyhive’, where she gained the fond nickname “Momma” as an active member.
Even US pop singer and former Disney star Demi Lovato chimed in on the viral tweet, commenting: “Omg has she met Beyoncé yet? How do we make this happen? HOW CAN I MAKE THIS HAPPEN”.
Gwen said: “It was just a hilarious bit of fun.
“It had gone viral – I didn’t even know what viral meant, to be honest.
“My phone was just going ‘ting ting ting’, and before I knew it I had all these tweets and retweets and Instagram notifications. I actually got 1,000 friend requests in one day.”
What would Gwen say to Beyoncé if she got the chance to meet her?
She said: “I think I would focus on family – her family, my family – just talk about what she does in her private time rather than what we get to see.
“Does she sit and draw and do cookie making with the little ones? I just want to know these quirky little things.”
Conversation