Tina Turner faced her demise holding onto an agonizing belief that her mother never truly wanted her. This sentiment, laid bare in one of her autobiographies, leaves lingering questions: did she reconcile with this sentiment or did she carry this belief with her to the grave?
The late sensation behind the hit "Private Dancer" was the youngest child of farm overseer and Baptist deacon, Floyd Richard Bullock, and his wife, Zelma Priscilla (née Currie), a factory worker who was also the mother of Evelyn Juanita Currie and Ruby Alline Bullock, a songwriter herself who passed away in 2010 at 73.
Turner, who succumbed to natural causes at 83 in her Swiss residence on May 24, stated in her memoirs that she felt unwanted, believing her birth was the only reason her mother stayed with her father. She even confessed to a certain fear of her father.
During a candid interview with Rolling Stone, Turner disclosed her belief that her mother's affection was noticeably more for her sister Alline.
Moreover, Turner, a mother of four - two of her own and two adopted children from her first husband, Ike Turner, lived in fear that her son Ronnie would adopt his father's harmful behaviors.
According to Afida Turner, Ronnie's wife, Tina held an embedded fear that her son might mimic Ike's violent tendencies, advising her to leave Ronnie, cautioning, "he will be like his father."
Ike Turner, notorious for his physical, mental, and emotional abuse of Tina, passed away in 2007 at the age of 76 due to a heroin overdose. Tina herself made a suicide attempt in 1986, consuming 50 sleeping pills, a desperate act resulting from Ike's relentless abuse.
Yet, overcoming the trials and tribulations of her life, Tina Turner managed to amass immense fame and fortune. A close friend revealed that she held no fear of death and felt prepared for it.
Stephen Sills, a designer and lifelong friend of the legendary singer, recalled to People magazine that Turner, in the early 2000s, felt "exhausted" after a grueling career. Turner herself acknowledged the grandeur of her life, yet expressed that she was weary and ready for what was to come. Sills, who frequently visited Turner during her final years, remembered seeing her content and comfortable.