Tina Turner's final interview reveals how she wanted to be remembered by the world

Rock’n’roll icon Tina Turner has died at 83 after a long illness. 

Her road to fame was a rocky one. She born Anna Mae Bullock in Tennessee and eventually became a global star as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue with her husband Ike before launching a successful career as a solo performer. 

She and Ike, who was physically abusive throughout their relationship, disbanded in 1976, and in the 1980s after leaving him, Turner launched her remarkable comeback with the 1984 multi-platinum album Private Dancer, including the hit What’s Love Got to Do with It, The song won a Grammy for Record of the Year and became her first and only number one song on the Billboard Hot 100. 

Now as the world mourns a legend, her final interview has revealed a few things you might not know about her. 

Speaking to the Guardian just last month, the star opened up about her greatest fear - “going back”, her secret love of McDonald’s - “After the first preview of my musical in London, I made Erwin take a detour on the way back to our hotel”, and revealed that she wanted to be remembered as the Queen of Rock’n’Roll. 

“As a woman who showed other women that it is OK to strive for success on their terms,” she told the Guardian’s Rosanna Greenstreet. 

Elsewhere, she admitted that her celebrity crush was Mick Jagger. “I loved when we toured with the Rolling Stones.” 

Her last interview also reveals her unfailing confidence. Asked what she disliked about her appearance, she replied: “Nothing. Women are forced to look far too closely and be critical of their appearance. Men don’t.” 

Tina Turner and Mick Jagger at Live Aid in 1985. Photo / AP

Neither was she scared of getting older: “This is life’s full adventure and I embrace and accept every day with what it brings.” 

Looking back on her life, she said that she had achieved what she always wanted - fame - and could now enjoy “anonymity” in her retirement. Turner spent her final years with her second husband Erwin Bach in Switzerland. She had no regrets, but had “lost people close to me, too soon”. Her son Ronnie died late last year at the age of 62, and her son Craig Raymond died at 59 in 2018. 

Earlier, her spokesperson said in a statement, “Tina Turner, the ‘Queen of Rock’n Roll’ has died peacefully today at the age of 83 after a long illness in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. 

“With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model.” 

Turner was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in October 2021, for the second time after being inducted with Ike Turner in 1991. 

She sold more than 150 million records worldwide, won 12 Grammys, and was honored at the Kennedy Center in 2005, with Beyoncé and Oprah Winfrey among those praising her. Her life became the basis for a film, a Broadway musical and an HBO documentary in 2021 that she called her public farewell. 

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.