There were two Tinas, the legend once said about himself: the rock ‘n’ roll goddess – and the right lady, “the Tina who wears ballet flats and pearls, who believes in elegance”.
But she was also so much more than that. Tina Turner – who died of natural causes at the age of 83 – was a paragon of being a woman. An iconoclast. And never anyone’s victim.
“I am a girl from a cotton field,” she once said, “who pushed me beyond what I was not taught.”
Born Anna Mae Bullock into abject poverty and abandoned by her parents when she was just three years old, Tina – despite her wild talent and drive – is best known as a survivor of domestic violence.
She spoke and wrote about it in the 1980s, when such things were not discussed. America was a culture before Oprah, before the Internet, and before the denomination. The sacrifice has not yet been upgraded.
So the idea that a rich, well-known, powerful, and beautiful woman could have been repeatedly beaten, tortured, and raped by her own husband—a famous one at that—was something America didn’t have.
Tina Turner – who died of natural causes at the age of 83 – was a paragon of being a woman. An iconoclast. And never anyone’s victim.
The idea that a rich, well-known, powerful, and beautiful woman could have been repeatedly beaten, tortured, and raped by her own husband—a famous one at that—was something America didn’t have. (Pictured: Tina with Ike Turner in 1964).
“You have to believe me now when I tell you something.”
This was Tina opening up to a reporter for People magazine in 1981, a worldwide exclusive magazine that earned her just a headline – not the actual cover – but still made a difference in the lives of women everywhere.
“My ex-husband was a physically violent man,” she said. “I endured basic torture.” I lived a life of death. I didn’t exist. But I survived. And I went out. I walked. And I haven’t looked back.’
The truth is she was running — on tour in Dallas, Texas, fleeing her husband, speeding down a freeway and nearly getting hit by a semi truck before crashing into the lobby of a Ramada Inn with a credit card and 36 cents in her pocket .
“I felt strong,” she said of the moment. It was 1976. The term “domestic violence” had entered the dictionary only three years earlier.
Tina Turner, then a star, went into hiding in LA and filed for divorce, famously demanding that she not take anything but her name.
She was a young mother of two boys, one of whom heard his mother’s screams after Ike Turner poured boiling coffee on her, causing third-degree burns.
She made do with meal tickets and played corporate gigs for McDonald’s in depressing hotel ballrooms across North America. She was left with all the unpaid bills from the canceled “Ike & Tina” tour. She received no royalties, none of the cars, furs, jewelry, or the house she truly deserved. But she didn’t care.
“I wanted something better,” she said.
Less than ten years later, Turner released her formative album, Private Dancer, in less than three weeks.
“My ex-husband was a physically violent man,” she said. “I endured basic torture.” I lived a life of death. I didn’t exist. But I survived. And I went out. I walked. And I haven’t looked back.’
In 1976, Tina went into hiding in LA and filed for divorce. But less than ten years later, she released her formative album, Private Dancer, in less than three weeks.
Every track was a smash, the album itself a cri de coeur: “Better Be Good to Me”, “Show Some Respect” and of course “What’s Love Got to Do with It”.
It was 1984, the best year ever for American pop music, especially for women: Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”, Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” hit number 1 on the charts.
But Tina stood out and towered over her. She was the adult in the room. She had been through a lot and came out the other side stronger and harder. defiant.
No one compares to Tina reincarnated, majestic in her armor: spiky blonde wigs she made herself, black leather miniskirts, bold red lipstick, and day-long legs that always perform athletically in high heels.
She was 44 years old and considered old among the men who wrote the reviews, edited the magazines and produced the talk shows.
But women didn’t see them that way. She paved a revolutionary path and showed us that it was never too late to find your power, leave a bad marriage and start a fulfilling career. To still be considered beautiful, if not with increasing age and wisdom. No longer caring about what everyone else might think.
That’s what made Tina something special: a true American original.
“I wasn’t worried about how men would react to my looks,” she wrote in her memoir. “I’ve always played for the women in my audience … there weren’t any women who sang and danced like me — women who could be sexy without making it sexual.”
In 1985, she turned down Steven Spielberg’s offer to star in The Color Purple.
“Black people can do better,” she said. “I used to live in cotton fields down south. I don’t want to do what I’ve done.’
It was 1984, the best year ever for American pop music. But Tina (pictured with Cher in 1999) stood out and surpassed her. She was the adult in the room. She had been through a lot and came out the other side stronger and harder. defiant.
Instead, she starred in “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome,” playing a dominatrix queen in a chainmail dress slit to the thighs, leading an army of men.
“It’s the warrior roles that I want,” Turner said. Naturally.
After much deliberation, she decided to publish her memoir, I, Tina, in 1986, which she co-wrote with music journalist Kurt Loder. It was her attempt to move on and discourage reporters from asking about the abuse she survived — but the book had the opposite effect.
It became a worldwide bestseller and changed Tina all over again; This time into a feminist icon.
Domestic violence was no longer a secret in America. It was no longer the shame of the women but of the men who beat them.
And here was a wealthy woman who refused to be a victim.
“I’m a happy person now,” she said. “I do not concern myself with misfortune.”
What a lesson for today’s culture and for these women – I think of a certain disaffected former king – who beg our pity, who whine and whine that “not many people have asked if I’m okay” and who to Oprah and Gayle King run over the smallest emotional paper cut.
Women like this would never have been able to sew on Tina’s sequins.
What a lesson for today’s culture and for those women – I think of a certain disaffected former king – who beg our sympathy, who run to Oprah and Gayle King for the slightest emotional fuss. (Pictured: Meghan Markle in New York earlier this month).
Ultimately, Tina got her happy ending — the love of a good man, a mansion in Switzerland, the adoration and thanks of millions — but that didn’t mean she wasn’t suffering.
Yet we never heard them complain, not once. Not after losing her son to suicide. Not after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, then cancer, and then kidney failure.
She taught generations of women to never give up, never give in, and fight for the life they wanted and deserved.
Discussing the recording of her only No. 1 hit, What’s Love Got to Do With It, she said, “They weren’t used to having a strong voice over the music.”
That was and is Tina Turner, for millions of women still is: That strong voice that stands at the top.