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Home · Celebrity

Tina Turner Says She Gets' Emotional' Talking About Abusive Ex-Husband Ike Turner: He 'Was Very Good To Me' Initially

In a recent interview with Gayle King, the iconic singer opened up about her marriage to Turner and losing her son to suicide.
Tina Turner Says Ex-Husband Ike Turner ‘Was Very Good To Me’ Initially
Photo by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images
By Sydney Scott · Updated December 6, 2020

Tina Turner recently sat down for a rare interview, where she revealed that she still gets “emotional” when thinking about her marriage to late ex-husband Ike Turner.

Their abusive relationship has been detailed in her 2018 memoir, My Love Story, and in the hit 1993 film, What’s Love Got To Do With It?

“When Ike asked me to marry him, I knew it was for a reason,” Turner told Gayle King during an interview for CBS News. “But I had to say yes…or it was gonna be a fight. And so then, when we drove to marry, that wasn’t my idea of my wedding.”

Remembering the start of their marriage, the iconic singer added, “I get emotional with certain conversations. I get emotional because in the beginning, Ike was very good to me.”

Article continues after video.

Turner suffered years of abuse at the hands of her ex-husband before she triumphantly left him.

“He didn’t like that he had had to depend on me,” Turner told King. “And I didn’t want to start a fight because it was always a black eye, a broken nose, a busted lip, a rib.”

The singer is now married to German music executive Erwin Bach and said that their marriage is “the first time that I got married, as far as I was concerned.”

Tina Turner Says Ex-Husband Ike Turner ‘Was Very Good To Me’ Initially
Ike & Tina Turner Mid 1960’s in London (Photo by Chris Walter/WireImage) *** Local Caption ***

Turner also opened up about losing her son, Craig, to suicide last summer, revealing what she thinks was really troubling him.

“I think Craig was lonely. That’s what I think really got him more than anything else. I have pictures all around of him smiling, and I think I’m sensing that he’s in a good place,” she said. “I really do.”

Through all the heartache and ups and downs, Turner has managed to come out the other side. The singer told King that she’s content with her life now as a citizen of Switzerland, living comfortably in a house on Lake Zurich.

“I am so serene. No problems. I had a very hard life, but I didn’t put blame on anything or anyone,” she said. “I got through it, I lived through it with no blame. And I’m a happy person.”

TOPICS:  tina turner
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