Where The Former Destiny's Child Members Are Today

Rumors of a Destiny's Child reunion have been kicking around ever since the group went on hiatus in 2006— especially following their mini reunions at Beyoncé's headlining Coachella set and at the Super Bowl XLVII halftime extravaganza. Heck, as recently as June 2020, Mirror claimed the trio are linking back up for shows and new music sometime after the pandemic ends. Whether or not that supposed scoop actually comes to fruition, one thing's for certain: more than two decades after releasing their self-titled debut album, Destiny's Child remains iconic.

In the early '00s, it was safe to say that any middle schooler in America could rattle off the lyrics to "Say My Name" while tying up their neon lanyards, tending to their Tamagotchis, and trying to catch the original 150 Pokémon. After first appearing on the Men in Black soundtrack in 1997, the group scored five Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 before the end of Y2K. 

Destiny's Child saw a total of six members over the years. We all know the trio of Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams, but before the group took its final form, LaTavia Roberson, LeToya Luckett, and Farrah Franklin filtered through, too. And all have managed to forge ahead in the entertainment industry all on their own. Let's take a look at what the former members of Destiny's Child are up to today, as well as the road that got them where they are now.

We'll start with the obvious one: Beyoncé. Before she went on to become one of the biggest celebrities on the planet, Beyoncé was a kid growing up in Houston, Texas. As she recalled in a 2012 Essence interview, she had the kind of childhood where her parents would take her and her siblings to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo every year, and they'd get enjoy deep-fried confections (the dream, if you're asking us).

Beyoncé told Essence that when she was just six years old, she began putting on shows for the women who frequented her mother's hair salon, where the future pop star would "sweep hair off the floor for tips." That was where she learned some valuable lessons about work ethic that came in handy when she joined the music group Girls Tyme back when she was still in elementary school. (It also probably came in handy when Girls Tyme morphed into one of the best-selling girl groups of all time.)

"From my early days with Destiny's Child, I understood I had to be focused and dedicated if I wanted true success ... I strongly believe if you work hard, whatever you want, it will come to you. I know that's easier said than done but keep trying," she said in Essence. "Before Destiny's Child was signed, we were turned down by so many record labels. Then, when I was 13, we were signed but later dropped. On Star Search, we lost and were devastated but we kept on trying."

Today, Beyoncé is known to many as Queen Bey, and with good reason. The star's sprawling career — which includes singing, acting, and directing — has smashed numerous records. She wasn't lying when she sang that a billion dollars stood in the elevator that hosted the infamous Solange and Jay-Z incident: According to some estimates, Beyoncé and Hova have a combined net worth of $1.4 billion.

As iHeartRadio reported in May 2020, Bey's broken at least 15 different records, including becoming the "most-nominated female in Grammy history" and the first woman to win six Grammys in a single night. At the time of this writing, she has a boatload of Grammy nominations and wins, as well as a handful of Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. It doesn't even end there.

In 2018, Bey became the first ever Black woman to headline Coachella. A year later, Forbes named her the second highest-paid woman in music after she earned a whopping $81 million from endeavors like her On The Run II tour, Homecoming live album, and Netflix special. And let us not forget about her debut solo album Dangerously In Love going quadruple platinum in 2004. That's not too shabby for a first try. Oh, and cut to 2018 when Bey and her hubby rented out the Louvre on a whim for their "APES**T" music video, which helped the museum break their visitor record. All hail the queen.

Like Beyoncé, Kelendria "Kelly" Rowland was in Girls Tyme before Girls Tyme became Destiny's Child. As Rowland recalled to Marie Claire, "Bey and I met at rehearsals for [the girl group] Girl's Tyme when we were nine." It wasn't long until the band started making waves, most notably with a now legendary 1993 Star Search appearance. As Vox noted, they lost to a group called Skeleton Crew, and the moment would go on to be immortalized in Beyoncé's "***Flawless." Following their stint on the talent competition program, Bey's dadager Mathew Knowles "put the girls through a brief training camp." Evidently, that training camp was a success, and as we know, Rowland stuck with the group throughout their meteoric rise to fame. Besides Bey, she's the longest-enduring member — but riding the wave wasn't easy. 

In an interview with People, Rowland revealed coming of age in the spotlight was difficult on her young psyche. "You gotta remember, I started at 15. That was a lot," she said. "I was growing up right in front of people. I had my own eyes on myself and other people's eyes on me." She went on to say that she felt "a lot of pressure" and had to work on "cutting those negative voices off," including the negative voices that she directed at herself. 

Since Destiny's Child, Kelly Rowland has paved her own way in the music industry, most notably when she tried to text Nelly with a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet in a music video. Er, most notably with the song that went with that music video, that is: Per People, "Dilemma" made Rowland the first Destiny's Child alum to win a Grammy outside of the group. At the time, her solo success felt "overwhelming" and she didn't feel like she "deserved" it. 

Rowland's career has been prolific. She's released four albums: Simply Deep in 2002, Ms. Kelly in 2007, Here I Am in 2011, and Talk a Good Game in 2013. After that, she married her manager and had a son. She also branched out into the world of film and TV, nabbing a six-episode run in Empire and serving as a coach on The Voice, where she spilled the tea about living in the wake of Beyoncé's career.

According to People, Rowland admitted she would "torture [her]self in [her] head" over the media's constant comparisons to her former band mate. "There was a whole decade, if I am being completely honest, a decade, where it was like the elephant in the room," she said. "It was the thing that would constantly be on my shoulder."

In April 2020, Rowland told the Associated Press she signed a deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation and is working on her fifth album.

LaTavia Roberson was another one of the original members of Girls Tyme. In an interview with Billboard, the singer revealed that she was just eight years old when she auditioned for the group that would eventually turn into Destiny's Child. Per Us Weekly, Girls Tyme's first lineup included Roberson, Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, Támar Davis, and sisters Nikki and Nina Taylor. Eventually, Nikki, Nina, and Davis were cut, and LeToya Luckett was brought on board. And then, Beyoncé, Rowland, Luckett, and Roberson became Destiny's Child. 

"Beyoncé and I had a very close relationship, we were best friends for two years," Roberson told Billboard. "I loved every moment that I spent with the girls. There's nothing about growing a career with your friends — we played together, we laughed together and we cried together. I'm grateful to be a part of the legacy."

According to MTV News, Roberson saw Destiny's Child through some major milestones, which included opening slots for SWV, Dru Hill, and Immature; their first recording contract with Columbia; and penning mega-hit "Say My Name." Sadly, there were bills, bills, bills to pay and, according to AllMusic, Roberson and Luckett reportedly battled with Bey's father, Mathew Knowles, claiming he "kept a disproportionate share of the band's profits" and tried to "exert too much control." Roberson told People that she only discovered she'd been kicked out of the group when the "Say My Name" video dropped and she wasn't in it.

Even though she was no longer in the group, LaTavia Roberson still won two Grammys for "Say My Name" in 2001. Unfortunately, the split left her utterly rattled. "Since I was dismissed from Destiny's Child, I went into a place of depression from childhood — being molested by my stepfather, dealing with substance abuse and stuff like that," she told Billboard in 2017. "There was a point in time where I couldn't be vocal about things because I had no voice."

In the decade following her shocking dismissal, Roberson more or less retreated from the spotlight and started working behind the scenes. She told Billboard that she was working with other artists as "the mogul behind putting out projects" and gave back through "speaking, philanthropy work, and things for the LGBT community." 

In 2014, she resurfaced in front of the camera, appearing in Season 3 of R&B Divas: Atlanta. Three years later — a whopping 17 years after parting ways with Destiny's Child — Roberson managed to channel her struggles into a docuseries and her memoir, I Am LaTavia. That same year, she released her debut solo single, "Best Time Of Your Life" and kicked off a very brief film career, where she appeared in three titles. According to InTouch Weekly, Roberson is "first and foremost" a full-time mom. She and her longtime boyfriend, music producer Don Vito, have two kids together.

According to AllMusic, LeToya Luckett joined the group in 1993 and saw Destiny's Child through the same milestones as LaTavia Roberson: the high-profile concert opener slots, the plush recording contract, and the very same feud with Mathew Knowles that led to both of their departures in 2000. And, like Roberson, Luckett found out her time in DC was over once she saw the "Say My Name" music video.

During an Instagram Live (via the Independent), the singer revealed that she was completely lost and financially tapped out following the split. Luckett went on to share that the thought of singing made her "angry," but she was an 18-year-old without much job experience who didn't know what she wanted to do next. "During my journey I was staying at people's houses ... I slept in a car in LA while I was making my first album," she said. "Not a lot of nights, but you know what I'm saying? I was drinking a gallon of water and buying the microwavable oodles of noodles."

Following Luckett and Roberson's departure, things got litigious. Most memorably, they filed a suit against the band centered around the lyrics to "Survivor." According to the Associated Press, they claimed the song violated the terms of a previous settlement, which prohibited either side from making "any public comment of a disparaging nature concerning one another." As MTV News noted in 2002, matters were settled out of court.

LeToya Luckett didn't let an unfortunate turn in destiny keep her down for too long. She managed to cultivate a successful career as both a solo artist and actor. Apparently, sleeping in her car during her Los Angeles recording sessions paid off: Six years after splitting from her famed girl group, Luckett released her debut solo studio album LeToya. It quickly shot to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and eventually went platinum. Three years later, she released her second studio album, Lady Love, and then took almost a decade-long break to pursue acting. Today, the star has a long list of acting credits on IMDb, including recurring roles on series like Treme, For Richer or Poorer, Rosewood, and Greenleaf. She released her third studio album, Back 2 Life, in 2017.

"These records were my way of release — my form of therapy," she told the Recording Academy in 2017. "I just felt that [Back 2 Life] was my time to really step outside of my comfort zone and share in a way that I have never shared before. There is so much freedom in that."

The year was 2000: Humankind survived the Millennium bug, The Sims began its decades-long reign over the computer game world, and Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin made their public debut as official members of Destiny's Child in the "Say My Name" music video. Williams was also struggling with depression. One might assume that someone who joined an astronomically famous music group that was only getting more popular by the second would feel like they were on top of the world, but depression doesn't work that way. 

In an episode of CBS' The Talk (via ET), the "The Greatest" singer revealed that she has grappled with depression since she was a teenager, but "didn't know what to call it" until she was in her thirties. "I got really, really bad ... to the point I was suicidal," Williams said. She ultimately told Mathew Knowles, but she claimed he brushed it off, saying, "You all just signed a multi-millionaire dollar deal, you're about to go on tour, what have you got to be depressed about?"

"Bless his heart... I think he wanted me to be grateful, which I was, but I was still sad," she said. Nonetheless, Williams stayed with Destiny's Child until they went on hiatus in 2006.

If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

Michelle Williams' post-Destiny's Child career has been major. As a solo artist, she has recorded four studio albums that charted on the Billboard 200: 2002's Heart to Yours, 2004's Do You Know, 2008's Unexpected, and 2014's Journey to Freedom. According to Fuse, Williams' 2014 album even led to the No. 1 gospel hit, "Say Yes," but it wasn't without a little help from her friends: Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland lent their vocals to the track.

As Essence noted, 2018 was a bittersweet year for the star: She got engaged to pastor Chad Johnson, the couple landed their own reality series, and she scored a leading role on Broadway's Once on This Island. That July, she shared on Instagram that she "proudly" entered treatment. A few months later, as Essence wrote, "she announced that her engagement to Johnson was off, and a week later she was forced to quit the Broadway play per doctor's orders."

"I was weak, very depressed and thinking it was the end of my life," she revealed to Essence in 2019. "If someone had asked me where I would be today, I didn't think I would be alive, because I was so broken." She told the outlet that she felt "happy" and was "in a better place."

If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

Farrah Franklin's time with Destiny's Child burned bright and fast. According to The Daily Beast, she got her start in 1999 when she was an extra for the "Bills, Bills, Bills" video. Mathew Knowles later invited her and Michelle Williams to officially join Destiny's Child, where they replaced LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson. Franklin and Williams appeared in the music videos for "Jumpin', Jumpin'" and "Say My Name," but their vocals did not. Sadly, it seems like Franklin's stint with the group, which lasted all of six months, didn't end on a positive note. 

Per The Daily Beast, Beyoncé used an MTV interview to publicly announce that Franklin had been fired, largely because the singer missed "three separate promotional tours." Franklin claimed that wasn't at all the case. She said she quit because she had problems with their management team, a.k.a. Mathew Knowles. According to Franklin, he was "coming down on her" because she got the flu and had to be hospitalized.

Years after the fact, Knowles shared his side of the story in an interview with Vlad TV. "Farrah had no idea that ... being a member of the No. 1 female group in the world required this amount of work, this amount of dedication and commitment," he said. "And that's the number one reason why, and we can say all the other things. You know, she was partying a lot. I think she said she was sick."

After she and Destiny's Child went their separate ways, Farrah Franklin began a solo career. According to The Daily Beast, she was "signed and dropped by two labels." She has released a handful of songs, including her 2015 single "Magic n' Makeup," and she's also appeared in music videos and films like 2008's Unemployed. The Daily Beast noted that she starred in "half an episode" of Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker, where she was a whopping four hours late to her date. (The outlet also pointed out that, given her reported net worth, she doesn't technically qualify for Patti Stanger's Millionaires Club.) In 2020, she dropped a single featuring Maino called "Push Up On Me."

Franklin has also run into several legal issues, which include disorderly conduct and public intoxication arrests. Per reports from The Daily Beast and Billboard, the star was arrested in 2011, 2014, and 2016. Following the 2014 incident, where, after a night of partying, she was "found laying in a random person's front yard," according to TMZ, Franklin tweeted (via Us Weekly) that she was "Unbothered and staying prayed up and, away from any negativity." She went on to say that there are "always 3 sides to a story," before adding, "Thank you to EVERYONE who has reached out to send me love and Blessings during this messy time in my life it's greatly appreciated."