Beyonce Knowles sacrificed friends for career

London: Singer Beyonce Knowles says that she did not have many friends when she was growing up because her burgeoning music career made her leave high school when she was 14.

"Socially I did miss out. I left school at 14 and had a tutor. I was never exposed to people long enough to make friends so my family became my friends," femalefirst.co.uk quoted the 29-year-old as saying. Beyonce, who grew up in Houston, Texas, rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny`s Child. Despite knowing that she always wanted to be singer, the 29-year-old often felt shy among her peers during childhood days. "Very early on, my mom was telling me to be who I wanted to be. So I wanted to be a hair stylist for a while, then a dance teacher. When I was seven, I performed on stage for the first time and fell in love with the feeling," she said. "I was awkward around other kids but felt comfortable on the stage. I said to my mom, `There is no way this will work but I am going to be a singer.` I was in a group, aged nine, and my dad, Matthew, left his job to manage us," she added. IANS