NEWSTina Turner Told Her Inner Circle 2 Years Ago That She Was 'Ready' to Die, Singer's Close Friend Reveals
Though Tina Turner's death came as a bit of a surprise to fans, her inner circle knew the devastating day was coming sooner rather than later.
The superstar's close friend Stephen Sills revealed as much in a new interview, which was released shortly after she passed at age 83 on May 24.
"She told me two years ago, she said, 'Stephen, I'm ready to go anytime. I'm not scared of death. I've had a wonderful last part of life. I've enjoyed it, but I'm tired,'" he recalled of their vulnerable chat.
As OK! reported, Turner died of natural causes, though she endured a few health woes during her later years, including a 2017 kidney transplant.
"The months after the transplantation were marked by a never-ending up and down. From time to time my body tried to reject the donor kidney as it frequently happens after a transplantation," she shared in an old interview, referring to the organ she received from husband Erwin Bach.
Before finding a kidney match, the crooner thought about assisted suicide.
"It wasn’t my idea of life but the toxins in my body had started taking over. I couldn’t eat," Tina explained in her 2018 memoir, My Love Story. "I was surviving, but not living. I began to think about death. If my kidneys were going, and it was time for me to die, I could accept that, it was OK. When it’s time, it’s really time."
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The Grammy winner also battled intestinal cancer and suffered from PTSD due to her marriage to ex Ike Turner.
"I chose death, and I chose it honestly. I was unhappy when I woke up. But I never tried it again because I made an important realization, one that changed the course of my life," she recalled of attempting to commit suicide.
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"I came out of the darkness believing I was meant to survive. I was here for a reason," she shared. "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."
People interviewed Sills about Turner's outlook on her final days.
