Tina Turner Revealed Health Issues, "Said Goodbye," Before Her Death at 83
Updated May 24 2023, 3:02 p.m. ET
Music legend Tina Turner has been open about her life for years – and shortly before her death in May 2023 due to "a long illness" at the age of 83, she shared even more about her final years in the 2021 documentary, Tina.
In the documentary, Tina gave her fans an update on her health. Over the years, her health had declined and she revealed that she had a number of different issues, both mental and physical, that she dealt with on a regular basis.
Here is what she revealed about her health before her death.
Tina Turner suffered a stroke and battled cancer before her death in 2023.
It's no secret that Tina was abused over the years. Anyone who watched the 1993 biopic about her life titled What's Love Got to Do With It or read her 1986 autobiography I, Tina, knows that she was abused by her first husband, Ike Turner.
She said that it was this abuse that led to her having a form of PTSD. On top of that, in the documentary, Tina opened up about other health battles including cancer and a stroke.
Back in 2017, Tina also had a kidney transplant due to kidney failure. She was shocked when her husband, Erwin Bach, donated the organ for her surgery.
According to USA Today, she was "overwhelmed by the enormity of his offer" but she was also "happy, overwhelmed and relieved that we'd come through this alive."
Tina also opened up about the abuse she experienced from her parents and Ike Turner.
Ike and Tina Turner.
For so many people looking from the outside, it's easy to think that Tina's lived this great life despite her hardships. But that's not the way she sees it. In the documentary, she said that the good experiences she's had in her life do not outweigh the bad.
"I had an abusive life, there’s no other way to tell the story," Tina said in the documentary. "It’s a reality. It’s a truth. That’s what you’ve got, so you have to accept it."
The abuse Tina suffered didn't start with her ex-husband but with her parents. In the documentary, Tina said that her father used to abuse her mother and then they both abandoned her when she was young.
When she was finally reunited with her mother after she gained fame, she said her mother wasn't nice.
"Mom was not kind," Tina said in the documentary. "When I became a star, of course back then she was happy because I bought her a house. I did all kinds of things for her, she was my mother.
"I was trying to make her comfortable because she didn’t have a husband, she was alone, but she still didn’t like me." Plus, Tina says her mother refused to believe she had accomplished all kinds of things in her career.
Tina Turner and husband Erwin Bach in 2015.
Before her death, Tina said that she wanted to live the remainder of her life out of the spotlight. She said that she wanted to use her documentary to move on with her life and transition out of public life.
In the documentary, Erwin said that Tina opened up to him about it, saying, 'I'm going to America to say goodbye to my American fans and I’ll wrap it up.' And I think this documentary and the play, this is it — it’s a closure."
