Kelly Rowland is speaking out after their heated exchange on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet on Thursday went viral.
The “Destiny's Child” alum was photographed walking down the stairs of the Palais des Festivals before the premiere of “Marcello Mio,” a Franco-Italian comedy written and directed by Christophe Honoré.
She smiled and waved to fans before paparazzi recorded a tense exchange with a security guard: the women spoke sternly to each other and Rowland was photographed pointing her finger at the guard. The people accompanying the singer tried to interfere, but the guard continued pushing them down the stairs.
“The woman knows what happened. I know what happened,” Rowland, 43, told the Associated Press. “I have a limit, and I maintain those limits, and that's it.”
Rowland did not explain what she meant by “boundaries,” but seemed to imply that the guard had unfairly targeted her, perhaps through racial profiling.
“There were other women who came to that carpet who didn't look much like me, and they weren't scolded or pushed or told to get off,” she said.
“I stood my ground and she felt like she had to defend hers, but I stood my ground.”
Rowland's appearance garnered support online despite the confrontation.
“And just like that, she @kellyrowland graces another carpet with her incredible and glorious beauty, class and grace! Drinking champagne and living her best life,” Tina Knowles, mother of Rowland’s Destiny’s Child bandmate Beyoncé, wrote on Instagram alongside a video of the singer posing with actor Evan Ross and singer Joe Jonas. “This just goes to show that dumb monkey that don't stop not showing up!!! “To bigger and… better things.”
On the carpet, the “Motivation” singer wore a custom red strapless dress by Anamika Khanna and an Egyptian-inspired necklace by Messika. She attended the festival as a guest of fragrance brand Kilian Paris.
