Gladys Knight is at the center of a family dispute after her son, Shanga Hankerson, publicly accused the singer’s husband, William McDowell, of “elder abuse.”
In a new interview with The Shade Room, Hankerson said he has filed a complaint with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services as his mother continues to tour while, he alleges, her cognitive health is declining.
Hankerson and his ex-wife, Gloria, described a backstage reunion last year with Knight’s longtime road manager, Larry Ward, that set off alarms.
“I have never seen Larry break down and cry like that,” Hankerson said, recalling that Ward struggled to describe what he’d witnessed on the road. On stage that night, Hankerson claims the band “played about two or three extra bars” when Knight “zoned out,” and that background vocalists pulled the show back on track. He also alleged staff had to rewind the teleprompters to keep Knight synced with the performance.
His concerns extend beyond the stage. Hankerson noted that during his 2021 sentencing—following his guilty plea for failure to remit payroll taxes—his mother “couldn’t form complete sentences and coherent thoughts.”
He further pointed to text messages he says came from McDowell describing Knight as having “Sundowner’s Syndrome,” and cited instances in which she appeared confused or wandered away.
“I don’t want my mom out on tour on a tour bus wondering where she’s at,” Hankerson said. “That’s my mom, I truly love her… and don’t care about her ever working a second longer while she’s alive. The direction that she’s going in is pushing her to her departure, and I don’t want to see that.”
Despite the dispute, Knight remains booked. She is slated for the second leg of “The Queens! 4 Legends. 1 Stage,” a co-headlining run with Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, and Stephanie Mills set to resume next month; the first leg wrapped in June.
Hankerson emphasized he is “extremely concerned about how she is being handled right now.”
