The Carters have been thought to have been members for at least five years – her 2013 Super Bowl performance thought to be stuffed to the gills with Satan-worshipping symbolism. The smoking gun? The diamond-shaped hand gesture Knowles made as a message to her husband, who has adopted it to represent his label, Roc-A-Fella (The Rockefellers were also considered Illuminati members…).
Conspiracy theorists saw this as "the Great Seal", a wink to the all-seeing eye, "the ultimate Illuminati symbol". From Telephone to Sweet Dreams, Beyoncé's videos have been endlessly deconstructed by YouTube theorists to point out her demon-worshipping. It's thought that if you play Single Ladies backwards, it will tell you to bow down to Satan.
Beyoncé finally denied the notion in her 2016 single Lemonade: "Y'all haters corny with that Illuminati mess". But she and Jay Z have, some think, begun baited the theorists with Illuminati symbolism in the work. Setting the video for Apes---, the lead single off their 2018 joint album, Everything Is Love, in the Louvre was particularly incendiary: the Parisian gallery, with its pyramidal form and supposed 666 glass panels, is thought to be a favourite Illuminati venue. And that's before you get onto the imagery of fallen angels and the 13 dancers that appear during the video.
Beyoncé faked her pregnancy
Related to Beyoncé's illuminati membership is the theory that the singer faked her pregnancy with her first daughter, Blue Ivy, in 2012. Theorists pushed away the morally dubious notion of discussing the inner workings of a woman's body and instead became convinced that Beyoncé was never actually pregnant.
There's a fair amount to take in here. Namely Blue Ivy. Conspiracists suggested that she wasn't Beyoncé's child, but the illegitimate daughter of Jay Z and another woman. More bonkers theories thought the baby was actually fathered by Beyoncé's father and ex-manager, Matthew Knowles.
Why the doubting of the pregnancy? Beyoncé is famously impeccable - and controlling - about the presentation of her image, and, given the news was about the contents of her womb, said "it was important to me that I was able to [unveil her pregnancy] myself". She did so during the VMA awards, both on the red carpet and then, famously, while performing during the ceremony. But when Beyoncé's stomach appeared to deflate, or shrink, during an interview with Australian show Sunday Night, the conspiracy theory caught alight online.
Finally, there was the shifting due date: Blue Ivy was born on January 7, but Beyonce told the press that the baby was due in February. Because babies are always born perfectly in accordance with their due dates, aren't they?
The rumour continued to proliferate even after the birth of Blue Ivy, to the extent that Beyoncé vehemently denied surrogacy rumours in her documentary Life is But A Dream in 2013. Then, the theorists argued, she protested too much for it to be anything other than true.
Beyoncé is seven years older than she claims
Hardly the rarest claim in showbusiness, but a conspiracy theory nonetheless. Beyoncé's birth date is officially listed as September 4, 1981, making her 37 years old. But there's a belief that she was actually born on September 4, 1974 - making her, at the time of writing, 44. Why? In 2006 someone who claimed to work for the Texas Department of Heath allegedly found her birth record. Plus there's the fact few photos exist of an adolescent awkward phase, and the fact that her father once said in an interview that Pink, born in 1979 and Usher, born in 1978, was "the exact same as Beyonce". But as conspiracy theories go, this one doesn't really stand up.
The theory gets more twisty for those who believe the older Beyoncé gave birth to her sister, Solange. (Presumably these theorists are not the same ones who also believe her incapable of spawing Blue Ivy). According to the conspiracy, Beyoncé was 15 when Solange was born, but that doesn't quite add up in this photograph of them as children:
The other members of Destiny's Child were made to change their names
Destiny's Child, the group managed by Matthew Knowles which dominated Beyoncé's adolescence and the Nineties pop charts, may have had a hit with Say My Name, but some believe there was additional trauma lying behind that.
Knowles famously made the group an international success as well as a vehicle for his daughter's stardom, and let little else get in the way. Including the birth names of Destiny's Child members Tenitra and Kelendria. You may know them better as Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland.
The teenagers were the third and fourth recruits to the band after original members LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett were kicked out, and the theory goes that Knowles wanted Beyoncé's limelight undiminished. Changing Williams' and Rowland's names helped make sure Beyoncé – whose unusual name was inspired by her mother's maiden name, Beyincé – stood out.
Beyoncé died in 2000 and has since been replaced by a clone
Arguably one of the less readily subscribed to theories, but one that exists nonetheless.
Little explanation is given for how, or indeed specifically when, Beyoncé died in 2000, only that canny producers decided to get hold of her stem cells and secretly perfect human cloning so that the money-making Beyoncé machine could continue after her death. Scant evidence exists in side-by-side photos where Beyoncé's hairline and smile slightly differs with captions saying: "This high degree masonry witch is a cloned [sic]".
