Beyonce Knowles loves eavesdropping on other people's conversations.

The 'Halo' singer used to enjoy hanging out in her mother's beauty salon because she got to listen to other women discussing their problems.

She said: "I loved listening to people's problems. It was like a sanctuary for those women. It was a place you didn't bring your children, and your husbands weren't there."

While she enjoyed listening to fellow females discussing their problems with each other, Beyonce finds it scary when women don't have girlfriends.

Speaking in the new issue of Britain's Harper's Bazaar magazine, which goes on sale on Saturday (06.08.11), she said: "I'm afraid when women never hang around with other women. That's a little scary to me - why is that?"

However, Beyonce - who is married to hip-hop superstar Jay-Z - says she hates being called a feminist because she doesn't think it's necessary.

She said: "I don't really feel that it's necessary to define it. It's just something that's kind of natural for me, and I feel like...you know...it's, like, what I live for. I need to find a catchy new word for 'feminism', right? Like 'bootylicious'."

A behind-the-scenes video of Beyonce's cover shoot for the magazine can be viewed at www.harpersbazaar.co.uk/covers/covers-beyonce.