'He's an old soul': Tina Turner was unfazed by 16-year age gap with husband Erwin Bach
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Tina Turner embraced her aging and was not concerned that she looked older than her husband Erwin Bach, despite the fact that the German producer was 16 years younger than her. The "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", who died at the age of 83 last month from natural causes, tied the knot with Bach in 2013, after ending her abusive marriage to Ike Turner.
The 'Proud Mary' singer shared her feelings after sleeping with Erwin for the first time in her memoir, 'My Love Story'. "Thus began my love story with a man who was 16 years younger than me," she wrote, according to Celebretainment.
'That was never an issue'
“But that was never an issue in my mind, then or now. The world may view Erwin as Tina’s ‘younger man’ but the truth is that, at heart, he’s really 60 and I’m 16," Turner penned. “He’s always been an old soul. And he’s much more mature than I am: he thinks ahead and exercises caution, while I’m more likely to leap without looking. In any case, at 46, I didn’t look older than Erwin, who was 30. I never think about the age difference. I don’t even feel I need to work at looking pretty in bed – I’m past that. What’s love got to do with it? A lot!"
Tina developed an affection for Erwin after she endured years of beatings and verbal and mental abuse at the hands of Ike, who died in 2007 at the age of 76. However, she said it took Erwin a while to figure out if they were a pair.
‘Are we together?’
“I was already head-over-heels in love with him. For the first time, I felt that I was truly in a relationship. This is how it’s supposed to be, I told myself," she added in her tell-all book. “One day, he asked me in his charming German way, ‘Are we together?’ – meaning, ‘Are we a couple?’… I just wanted to be with Erwin more and more."
Tina suffered a stroke the year she married Bach. Four years later, he saved her life by donating her one of his kidneys after she had spent years battling issues with the organs. She said about requesting him not to proceed with the operation, "He was a young man. Why should he take such a risk to give an older woman a few extra years? What if he had a problem someday with his remaining kidney?”
“‘Darling, you’re young. Don’t, don’t, don’t interfere with your life. Think about your own future,' I urged", she said. “But Erwin had made up his mind. ‘My future is our future,’ he told me.”
