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Tina Turner opens up about abusive ex-husband Ike: ‘I thought he was the ugliest person I'd ever seen’

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Tina Turner. (PHOTO: Getty/Gallo Images)
Tina Turner. (PHOTO: Getty/Gallo Images)

Cape Town - Tina Turner recently sat down for a rare interview with Gayle King on CBS Sunday Morning and got candid about her abusive marriage to musician Ike Turner.

The 79-year-old, born Anna Mae Bullock, was just a teenager when she met the man who’d change her life.

“I thought he was the ugliest person I'd ever seen. I never seen anybody that skinny,” she recalled.

“But he had a presence. And then I watched him when he got on stage and he started. I thought, ‘Wow, I want to sing with that band’.”

Tina Turner. (PHOTO: Getty/Gallo Images)


The pair grew closer over time, with Ike being nice at first but quickly turning into a different person, according to Tina, Daily Mail reports.

The couple eventually married but according to Tina, the two only tied the knot so she could avoid him getting angry.

“I had to say yes or it was going to be a fight,” she told Gayle.  

“Then we drove to get married. That wasn't my idea of my wedding.”

The veteran singer later became the breadwinner which further enraged her husband who’d already changed her name without her knowledge when they first got their record deal.

“He just came home from the record company and he said, ‘Here's the record.’ And I said, ‘Who’s Tina?’ ‘You're Tina,’ he said. ‘Your name is Tina Turner.’

“I said, ‘Tina? Tina Turner?’ It was really hard to say in the beginning,” said the singer. 

The rock music icon also opened up about the tragic death of her eldest son, Craig, who committed suicide last year, People reports.


“I think Craig was lonely. That’s what I think really got him more than anything else,” she said.

“I have pictures all around of him smiling, and I think I’m sensing that he’s in a good place. I really do.”

Tina concluded by saying she’d put the troubles of her past behind her.

“I have everything,” she said.

“When I sit at Lake Zurich [in Switzerland] in the house that I have, I’m so serene. No problems. I had a very hard life. But I didn’t put blame on anything or anyone. I got through it, I lived through it with no blame. And I’m a happy person.”

Sources: Daily Mail, People


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