Tina Turner considered assisted suicide during illness battle before husband gave his kidney to keep her alive

YEARS before her tragic death, Tina Turner faced several health struggles before her husband made a huge sacrifice to keep her alive.

When the iconic singer met music producer Erwin Bach in the 1980s, it was love at first sight and the start of a three-decade-long relationship.

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Tina met Erwin, who is 17 years her junior, in 1985 when he was assigned to pick her up from the airport before a concert in Germany.

In her HBO documentary, Tina, the icon said she was immediately smitten with him.

“He had the prettiest face. You could not miss it,” she said. “It was like saying, ‘Where did he come from?’ He was really that good-looking. My heart went bu-bum. It means that a soul has met. My hands were shaking.”

For Erwin, the love wasn’t instantaneous but he later visited Tina in the US after learning that she was interested in him and their relationship began later that year.

“It’s love. It’s something we both have for each other. I always refer to it as an electrical charge. I still have it,” Erwin said in the documentary. “Even though when I left her two hours ago, I still have that feeling. It’s in my heart. I feel very warm about this.”

The couple didn’t marry until 2013 after 27 years together, although Erwin did propose to her as far back as 1989 on Tina’s 50th birthday.

The singer told Oprah Winfrey: “I said, ‘I don’t have an answer.’ It wasn’t yes, it wasn’t no.”

Following her volatile marriage to her first husband, Ike Turner, Tina expressed that she didn’t want to feel controlled.

“Marriage says ownership. I didn’t want that ‘my’ anything, anymore. I had enough of that,” she said, adding that even after three years with Erwin, she still “didn’t believe” that he was committed enough to her.

She would eventually change her mind, marrying Erwin in Switzerland in front of more than 200 people.

“I wanted to be the best I could be. I wanted my garden and my guests to be the best they could be. And they were,” said Tina.

‘I’M NOT GOING BACK’

Tina’s later years weren’t without struggle, however, especially after she announced her retirement from performing in 2009.

To commemorate the end of her performance career, Tina capped it off with a six-month, 90-date 50th Anniversary world tour, which came to a close in Sheffield, England on May 5, 2009.

“No one knew how tired I was of singing and dancing. It’s work,” said Tina, who was nearly 70 when she completed her final stage show.

“I wanted to retire and not worry. That is what that tour did for me. I got to my goal. I received at that moment a revelation of, ‘This is it. I’m going home now.’ I was going back to a place that I’d decided in my last stage that’s where I wanted to be.”

In her book, My Love Story, Tina wrote about returning to Switzerland with Erwin the day after her last show and she knew “This was it.”

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“I got up the next morning, didn’t see anybody, and boarded the plane with Erwin,” she wrote. “I sat there, still, calm, resolute. I took a deep breath and told myself, ‘I’m not going back.’”

Amidst her retirement bliss, though, came a slew of health issues.

Three weeks after marrying Erwin, she suffered a stroke and had to learn how to walk again.

In 2016, she was diagnosed with intestinal cancer and hypertension, which she treated with homeopathic remedies.

Her high blood pressure took a toll on her kidneys, eventually leading to kidney failure.

“I faced two choices: either regular dialysis or a kidney transplant,” Tina wrote in her book.

“Only the transplant would give me a good chance of a near-normal life. But the chances of getting a donor kidney were remote.”

Faced with her daunting health battles, Tina considered assisted suicide and even signed up to be a member of Exit – a non-profit that advocates the legalization of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide.

But Erwin stepped in, telling Tina that he “didn’t want another woman or another life.”

“Then he shocked me. He said he wanted to give me one of his kidneys,” she said.

Tina wrote that she was “overwhelmed by the enormity of his offer” and after the transplant surgery in 2017 was a success, she felt “happy, overwhelmed, and relieved that we’d come through this alive.”

SIMPLY THE BEST

Tina died on Wednesday at the age of 83 “after a long illness in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland,” a rep said in a statement.

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

“Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939, in Nutbush, Tennessee, USA. She became famous in the late 60s as the singer of the band Ike & Tina Turner Revue, but later she became successful worldwide as a solo artist,” they continued.

“With her music and her inexhaustible vitality, Tina Turner thrilled millions of fans and inspired many artists of subsequent generations.

“Global hits like ‘What’s Love Got To Do With it’, ‘Private Dancer’ and ‘The Best’, more than 180million albums sold, 12 Grammy Awards, and over three decades of sold-out stadium tours around the world are just part of her unique legacy.”

The rep added: “There will be a private funeral ceremony attended by close friends and family.”

“Please respect the privacy of her family at this difficult time. Further press inquiries will not be answered.”

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