Tina Turner bravely opens up about surviving abuse and heartbreaking suicide bid

She was the girl who began singing while picking cotton in the fields whose amazing voice and dancing would make her a legend.

But becoming Tina Turner came at a cost.

She has had to survive an abusive husband, her eldest child taking his own life and her own suicide attempt.

She also had to cope with a stroke, kidney failure and intestinal cancer.

But the singer, who turned 81 last month, insists of the trials she has faced: “I wouldn’t change a thing.

“I embrace the entirety of my life’s journey. Each part has contributed to me becoming who I am today, and I’m very happy now.”

Speaking from her home in Lake Zurich, Switzerland, a villa she shares with her husband Erwin Bach, 64, Tina says: “There were a number of difficult experiences that could have shattered me, but instead became fuel for my journey, propelling me upward.”

Among the darkest times were those while married to the late Ike Turner, the singer who saw the talent of a young Anna Mae Bullock, renamed her Tina Turner, married her in 1962 and set them on the road to fame.

But as his drug use spiralled, so did his violent and cheating behaviour.

By 1968, Tina was caring for her eldest son Craig, whose saxophonist dad Raymond Hill had abandoned her, her son with Ike, Ronnie, and Ike’s two ­children from a previous relationship.

But she was so depressed she became “numb”, saying, “The only thing I could feel was that I had reached the end.”

One night before going on stage she took 50 sleeping pills. It would be another eight years before she fled from Ike with nothing but 36 cents on her.

As a single mum who was ­approaching 40, she battled to prove herself in the music ­industry, a fight that ended with the release of Private Dancer in 1984.

The multi-platinum album went on to sell 10 million copies worldwide.

Tina, who began studying Buddhism and daily chanting in the late 60s, says: “After I attempted suicide, I felt that I was still alive because I had a purpose, a mission to accomplish in life.

“And after surviving years of abuse, I knew I had an innate resilience I could tap into. If I could increase that, I knew I could become unshakably happy and make my dreams come true.

“When I could finally see myself and my life clearly, that’s when I could find my way around any obstacle. I was able to overcome my challenges and realise my dreams.”

Her tenacity has helped her to 100 million record sales, 12 Grammys wins, a box office smash in 1985 with Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Even after retiring in 2009, she developed the West End and Broadway hit Tina: The Musical, and has completed her book, ­Happiness Becomes You, a guide to finding “joy”.

“The principles I share are universal and can help everyone, no matter their background,” she says.

“A key lesson is about expanding comfort zones. Bravery isn’t the lack of fear, bravery is feeling fear and moving forward anyway. And if it doesn’t come ­naturally to you, as was the case for me, you can start with little things.

“When I chose songs for my albums, there were ones I initially didn’t like. I felt uneasy even trying to sing them.

“But I decided to step outside my comfort zone and gave them a try. One of those songs was What’s Love Got to Do with It. So, I’m very glad I expanded my comfort zone!”

Another example of expanding her comfort zone would surely be leaving Nutbush, Tennessee.

Born Anna Mae in 1939, segregation was everyday life. She went to an all-black school where summer holidays were timed so ­children could help in cotton-picking season. And a man was once lynched not far from her home.

Her home life was volatile, her mum walking out when Tina was 11. Her cousin ­Margaret became her best friend but died in a car accident.

Tina’s mum later invited her to St Louis when she was 16, a path that would lead her to Ike.

Fast forward to 1986 and Tina met German music exec Erwin, 16 years her junior.

They have been together 34 years, and have been married since 2013. “He’s my unwavering life partner, my soulmate and husband,” she says.

Her Swiss home comes complete with its portrait of Tina as an Egyptian Queen and a 22-piece set of gilt Louis Philippe furniture, but she is still the girl from Nutbush.

“I was born Anna Mae, and then became Tina Turner,” she says. “During the course of my career, I became a good mix of both – yin and yang, so to speak. They’re two sides of my personality, two facets of my life.

“I may look like a grande dame now, but I still think of myself as Anna Mae.”

So what’s next on her bucket list?

“I’ve done it all,” she says. “These days, I enjoy going for strolls, reading, chanting, watching movies, cooking healthful meals, and sleeping as late as I wish. That’s my guilty pleasure.”

She has battled ill health in recent years, and had to learn to walk again after a stroke in 2013.

Three years later she was diagnosed with ­intestinal cancer and had kidney failure. She considered assisted suicide before Erwin donated his kidney in 2017.

She writes of her son’s suicide in 2018 aged 59, saying: “I was in Paris with Erwin to celebrate our anniversary and attend our friend Giorgio Armani’s fashion show. After the show, I was about to go to bed when Erwin received an urgent message from Los Angeles. Craig had died by suicide.

“It’s been almost two years now, but I miss Craig as much as ever. Craig suffered from profound loneliness, which I believe was related to clinical depression. He was close to his younger brother, but he suffered in silence. It wasn’t until his sudden death I began to understand that Craig faced serious mental health challenges.”

Despite such losses when she looks in the mirror she says she sees “serenity”. And what has she learned about money? “It doesn’t make you happy. ­Happiness is within you.”

It seems Tina does have the answer to What’s Love Got To Do With It. If you can learn to love yourself and others, everything.

*Happiness Becomes You by Tina Turner, Harper Thorsons, £16.99.