Beyonce Knowles - Beyonce Hits The Big 3-0

Exactly one week after announcing her first pregnancy at the MTV Video Music Awards, Beyonce Giselle Knowles has another reason to celebrate as she toasts the age milestone.

Shooting to stardom as a founding member of R&B girl group Destiny's Child, Beyonce has gone on to make her mark as a solo artist, actress and businesswoman; collaborate with chart-toppers such as Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Shakira and Kanye West; and find love with hip-hop heavyweight Shawn 'Jay Z' Carter.

To honour Queen Bey on her special day, WENN has dug deep to find 10 fascinating facts about the birthday girl. Beyonce, we salute you!

- Before becoming a global superstar, Beyonce was a teenage hellraiser - she pierced five holes in each ear and even tried to run away from her strict parents Mathew and Tina Knowles.

- Beyonce has scooped a whole host of awards, including 16 Grammys and 11 Mtv VMAs, but there's one trophy she has yet to land: an Oscar. She has confessed to keeping a picture of the acting statuette next to her treadmill to inspire her work-outs.

- She and Jay Z are the second wealthiest celebrity couple in the world, raking in a combined $72 million (£45 million) last year (10). The Carters were surpassed only by mega-rich supermodel Gisele Bundchen and her husband, American football quarterback Tom Brady.

- Beyonce took a much-needed hiatus last year (10) and spent her free time visiting museums, writing songs, travelling, attending music festivals around the world and learning how to cook.

- 4, the name of Beyonce's latest album, is her lucky number - it's the day of her birthday, as well as her mother and husband Jay Z. The happy couple also wed on the 4 April, 2008, and she even has a tattoo of the Roman numerals IV inked on her ring finger.

- Beyonce donated her entire pay cheque from her 2008 movie Cadillac Records to New York's Phoenix House rehab facility, where she researched her role as former heroin addict Etta James. She later helped launch a cosmetology school named in her honour at the centre.

- She counts Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow as one of her closest friends, and recently gushed about the Shakespeare in Love star, "She is what I strive to be one day."

- Beyonce makes time in her busy schedule for a special weekly tradition with Jay Z - the couple eats at a pizza joint in the rapper's native Brooklyn, New York every Sunday.

- U.S. President Barack Obama picked Beyonce to sing Etta James' At Last as he and his wife, Michelle, shared their first dance following his inauguration into the White House in 2009. The singer called the experience "the most important day" of her life.

- Beyonce made history in June (11) when she became the first female singer ever to headline the main stage at Britain's iconic Glastonbury festival. Little did fans know, Beyonce was hiding a big secret throughout her triumphant set - she was pregnant.