Tina Turner Heartbreak: Why Singer NEVER Hated Abusive Ex-Husband Ike Turner

Tina Turner Heartbreak: Why Singer NEVER Hated Abusive Ex-Husband Ike Turner
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images and GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images

Tina Turner, despite going through traumatic and abusive marriage with Ike Turner, never hated her ex-husband.

From being friends, Tina and Ike grew together as musicians by collaborating on several songs. While doing so, they fell in love with each other and soon tied the knot following the release of their 1961 debut album.

Throughout the 16 years of marriage, however, Tina endured an abusive relationship with Ike. Despite that, the singer revealed before her death how she never hated him.

Why Tina Turner Did Not Hate Ike Turner Over Past Abusive Marriage

Turner spent the last 40 years of her life with her loving husband, Erwin Bach, who also extended her life by giving her his kidney. She got the chance to do what she wanted with her music after divorcing Ike.

Before her death, she released "Happiness Becomes You" and sat for an interview with The Guardian during which she promoted her new book.

Elsewhere in the discussion, she explained why she decided to move on happily and not feel any hate toward Ike after all that happened. According to the singer, people usually resent situations and people, but things were different on her part.

"I've always felt the most important thing isn't what happens to us, it's how we choose to respond," she said, as quoted by Cheatsheet. "I release negative feelings by taking to heart the importance of forgiveness and self-reflection rather than blame. That's how I broke the cycles of negativity in my life."

The "Better Be Good to Be" singer added that she established her mission to end the cycles of abuse she suffered from throughout her childhood until she married and divorced Ike.

She also credited her spiritual foundation as something that helped her to start all over again.

When Did Ike Turner's Abuse Start?

In a report by W Magazine, it cited one instance when Turner described how Ike's abuse felt like. She wrote in her book that the abusive marriage began when Ike allegedly demanded Tina change her name -something she did not approve of.

The singer recalled how her then-husband initially became verbally abusive before it became physical and emotional. In the years thereafter, Turner would always suffer from physical abuse, including Ike using a shoe stretcher to hit her in the head.

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