Is Tina Turner sick? Queen of Rock 'n' Roll says 'goodbye' to fans in new HBO documentary: 'It's a closure'
American-born Swiss singer, songwriter, and actress Tina Turner bid a final farewell to her fans in a new documentary film on her life. Titled ‘Tina’, the American-British documentary, directed by Dan Lindsay and T. J. Martin, had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on March 2, 2021. It is scheduled to be released in the United States on March 27, 2021, by HBO.
The Queen of Rock 'n' Roll, 81, who has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide and won eight Grammy awards, in the feature-length documentary looks back at her life, warts and all. This includes a lot of trauma from her past.
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In the film, she talks about how she wants to enter the third and final chapter of her life out of the spotlight. She says in the film: “It wasn’t a good life. The good did not balance the bad. I had an abusive life, there’s no other way to tell the story. It’s a reality. It’s a truth. That’s what you’ve got, so you have to accept it. Some people say the life that I lived and the performances that I gave, the appreciation, is blasting with the people. And yeah, I should be proud of that. I am. But when do you stop being proud? I mean, when do you, how do you bow out slowly? Just go away?”
In the documentary, Turner’s second husband, Erwin Bach, during a farewell trip to the US for the Broadway premiere of her stage show ‘The Tina Turner Story’, says: “She said, ‘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.”
Is Tina Turner sick?
In the film, it is revealed that she has a form of post-traumatic stress disorder from the domestic abuse she suffered at the hands of her first husband and music partner, Ike Turner. At one of her most desperate moments, Turner reportedly swallowed 50 sleeping pills to escape the marriage in 1968.
In the documentary, Turner says, “That scene comes back. You’re dreaming it. The real picture is there, it’s like a curse.” In the film, however, she also claims to be at peace with her ex-husband’s death, who died of an accidental drug overdose in 2007.
She says, “For a long time I did hate Ike, I have to say that. But then, after he died, I really realised that he was an ill person. He did get me started and he was good to me in the beginning. So I have some good thoughts. Maybe it was a good thing that I met him, that I don’t know. It hurts to have to remember those times, but at a certain stage forgiveness takes over, forgiving means not having to hold on. It was letting go, because it only hurts you. By not forgiving, you suffer, because you think about it over and over. And for what?”
But that’s not all. As per reports, the ‘What's Love Got to Do with It’ hitmaker has suffered from a series of illnesses, including a stroke, cancer, and even kidney failure. She suffered a stroke in 2013. In 2016, she was diagnosed with kidney failure and intestinal cancer. This led to a transplant in 2017. Reportedly, Turner had considered assisted suicide, which is legal in Switzerland. Eventually, Bach offered to donate one of his kidneys, saving her life.
"We call it ‘the Baby’ because it's like me being pregnant -- it's a part of him, kind of a baby from Erwin! It's over here somewhere,' she points to her lower right abdomen. 'So I have three kidneys and he only has one,'" she explained in an interview once.
What else does ‘Tina’ focus on?
As per reports, the documentary will see Turner talking about her harsh childhood. She was born Anna Mae Bullock, and grew up in abject poverty in Nutbush, Tennessee. Her mother, Zelma, suffered domestic abuse at the hands of her father, Floyd Bullock, before they both abandoned her as a child.