Music icon Tina Turner died at age 83 after a long illness, and as fans remembered the tenacious “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” many started sharing a clip from a 1997 interview she gave Mike Wallace for CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”
In the interview, Turner shows Wallace around her estate in the south of France. She had lived in Europe for over a decade at that point. While looking over the vast estate with breathtaking views, Wallace asked Turner: “You feel like you deserve all this?”
“I deserve more,” Turner laughed. That exchange has started go viral — 25 years after she confidently affirmed her self-worth.
At the time, she was expected to gross $100 million during a three-month European tour. Wallace said he had no idea Turner was such a huge star in Europe. “No one in America knows that,” Turner replied.
When Wallace asked how “American” she is, Turner — who grew up in rural Tennessee — said: “Still very much American. I still don’t speak the foreign tongues over here yet. I still pay American taxes. I have property in America. All of my businesses run from America still,” she said. “But in my heart? I don’t think I will go back home.”
In her retirement, Turner settled in Zurich, Switzerland, and was at her home there when she died this week, her publicist said.
During the 1997 interview, Turner showed Wallace other elements of her opulent life — a custom Lamborghini and a private jet used for touring — as well as her Buddhist shrine. Turner, who was born Baptist, said she turned to Buddhism to help her through tough times.
The eight-time Grammy winner had a music career that spanned decades that started when she was discovered by Ike Turner, whom she married, and who physically abused her.
The relationship and abuse were portrayed in detail in her autobiography “I, Tina,” and the 1993 biopic “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” starring Angela Bassett. Turner said she didn’t regret that the movie made her relationship troubles public — but she regretted that “it was ugly to me and that people found it out.”
“I’m constantly reminded. It’s been nearly 20 years and Ike has been married twice since then,” she said in the interview. She also said she received corrective surgery after her “face was bashed in,” and she had trouble with her sinuses because her nose was damaged during the abuse. Ike Turner died in 2007.
During the interview, Turner also introduced Wallace to her longtime partner, music producer Erwin Bach. Turner said they did not feel they needed to get married at the time. The pair eventually wed in 2013 after 27 years together, and remained together until she died.
