'She was ready to leave this Earth': Oprah Winfrey recalls late pal Tina Turner being 'excited and curious' about death
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Oprah Winfrey, a close friend of Tina Turner, joined a lengthy list of celebrities in paying tribute to the late singer on Instagram. But Winfrey's post was a little different as it detailed how the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll Queen felt about death.
Winfrey's post emphasized Turner's thoughts about how she would leave this world. It seems that the 'What's Love Got to Do with It' singer claimed that she would feel "excited and curious" rather than afraid. Turner, whose real name was Anna Mae Bullock, died in her home in a Zurich suburb, Switzerland, at the age of 83. Although Turner's exact cause of death is unknown, her health issues have been well-documented.
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'Becoming her friend was a blessing of a lifetime'
Winfrey wrote, "She once shared with me that when her time came to leave this earth, she would not be afraid, but excited and curious. Because she had learned how to LIVE surrounded by her beloved husband, Erwin [Bach], and friends."
Winfrey recalled being "stunned into immediate tears" when she learned of Turner's death via Gayle King after switching off her phone while on vacation. "I had been expecting to hear this news four years ago in 2019 after visiting her at a hospital in Switzerland, where she told me she was ready to leave this earth," Winfrey wrote on Oprah Daily.
Winfrey added, "She said she had a full life and was 'tired'. I'm always wary when someone who is ill says they're tired. It often means they are tired of the work and energy it takes to stay alive. I left the hospital thinking that would be my last time seeing her."
"I was on alert for a full year afterward, waiting to get 'the call' from her devoted husband, Erwin. Instead there were calls with news of improvements, new treatments, therapies, doctors. There were setbacks and stabilization. I even received an invite to celebrate her 80th birthday, then her 82nd. Becoming her friend was a blessing of a lifetime," Winfrey concluded.
What medical conditions did Tina Turner have?
Turner struggled with numerous health issues after being diagnosed with hypertension in 1978, but she never realized she could do anything about it, according to DailyMail. She had a stroke in 2009 because her disease went untreated. Three weeks after she married Bach, her husband of nearly 30 years, she had another stroke in 2013.
Turner received an intestine cancer diagnosis in 2016 and her kidney problems worsened even after doctors removed a portion of her intestine. She stopped taking her medications after experiencing unfavorable side effects from her treatment for hypertension and tried homeopathy instead. The outcomes were catastrophic and resulted in kidney failure.