Tina Turner opened up to The New York Times about her life and career, as well as her marriage to Ike Turner.
The former couple was married from 1962 to 1978 after the singer met Ike Turner at age 17 as Anna Mae Bullock when he was a bandleader. He then gave her a chance to join his act, and they eventually performed as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue with massive success.
But their relationship was incredibly abusive, which was first documented in the book “I, Tina,” released in 1986. The violence was also captured in the 1993 film “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” where Angela Bassett played the singer and Laurence Fishburne Ike Turner.
During her interview, the legendary performer talked about her ex-husband and revealed whether she forgave him for the abuse. Ike Turner died in 2007 from a cocaine overdose in San Marcos, California, at 76 years old.
“I don’t know if I could ever forgive all that Ike ever did to me, but Ike’s dead,” said Tina Turner as she laughed. “So we don’t have to worry about him.”
She also admitted there were aspects of the abuse that were never revealed. “I think I’m ashamed,” she stated. “I feel I told enough.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the 79-year-old talked more about her life and said it was mostly uphill, but she’s been able to push through with resilience.
“I don’t necessarily want to be a ‘strong’ person,” she explained. “I had a terrible life. I just kept going. You just keep going, and you hope that something will come.”
What has come for Tina Turner these days is retirement, because she hasn’t recorded an album since 1999’s “Twenty Four Seven,” and her touring days are over as well. And it’s a time of her life that she’s not eager to revisit anytime soon.
“I don’t sing, I don’t dance, I don’t dress up,” she explained. “I was just tired of singing and making everybody happy. That’s all I’d ever done in my life.”
Tina Turner, who was born in Nutbush, Tennessee, now lives in Switzerland and has been married to her German husband Erwin Bach for six years.
