Tina Turner began carrying a gun after she was informed Ike Turner organised successful on her.
The late Private Dancer singer spent years subjected to bodily, verbal and psychological abuse by her first husband. After she lastly divorced him in 1978, she says he had “goons” shoot her late supervisor Rhonda Graam’s automotive and into the home they shared.
Tina, whose dying aged 83 was confirmed on 24 May, mentioned in her memoir My Love Story about refusing to work with Ike after their break up: “Ike, meanwhile, was so furious that I refused to collaborate with him on music projects that he struck back the only way he knew how — with violence.
“One night at home, we heard this loud ‘bang, bang, bang’ coming from outside. The back window of Rhonda’s car had just been blown out with bullets.
“Another night, the goons actually shot into the house. A friend later heard them bragging about it. We were so scared that Rhonda slept on the floor of the boys’ room while I slept in my closet.”
Tina added about listening to Ike needed to have her killed: “Then I heard from a reliable source that Ike had talked to someone about solving his Tina problem.
“He’d tried to arrange for a hit man to take me ‘to the ballpark’ — slang for a killing. After that, I made sure I carried a gun.”
Tina employed Rhonda to assist get her profession again on observe after her divorce from Ike, regardless that he had seduced her.
The What’s Love Got to Do With It singer added about her previous pal, who died in January 2021: “We’d met in 1964 when she was just a young fan, but she had soon become a vital part of the Ike and Tina Turner operation and a close friend.
“Yet even Rhonda had ended up having an affair with Ike. He had seduced every woman in our circle. That’s what he did. In his mind, sex was power. When a woman became his conquest, he believed he owned her.
“I forgave Rhonda because, funnily, we were in the same boat, dependent on Ike, constantly at his beck and call, ruled by him, abused by him.
“We were like members of a cult. Sister wives who always came through for each other, despite Ike’s attempts to divide us.”
Tina, born Anna Mae Bullock, requested the choose at her divorce listening to for just one factor from Ike — the stage identify he had given her and trademarked.
She mentioned: “I told the judge, ‘Forget the jewellery, forget everything. It’s only blood money. I want nothing.’
“Although I did have one request. I wanted to continue using ‘Tina Turner’, which Ike owned because of the trademark he had obtained when we first started performing.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
