It has been a week since Tina Turner died at age 83.
We’ve seen tributes from Oprah Winfrey and King Charles, while Beyoncé even performed “River Deep, Mountain High” — one of her greatest hits on stage.
But over the past few days, the superstar’s death has reopened the old wounds that her family has so desperately tried to mend.
While the “Simply The Best” singer suffered the tragic loss of her two biological sons Craig Turner and Ronnie Turner before her own passing, her two adoptive sons, Ike Turner Jr. and Michael Turner are still alive.
And we can reveal that she also leaves behind two grandchildren and five great-grandchildren — all of whom she never got to meet.
The family is still in shock over her death, as many had not heard that she was seriously ill, family sources told Page Six.
Twanna Turner, the daughter of Tina’s first husband, Ike Turner, said: “It’s time to heal…the family really wants and needs to heal, they have gone through so much, and they continue to go through so much.
“These two powerhouses were such an entity — there will never be another Ike and Tina.”
Tina spent the last few decades of her life living in Switzerland with her second husband Erwin Bach, at her $76 million mansion known as Villa Algonquin.
The queen of rock had two biological children.
Her first son Craig, whom she had with Raymond Hill — one of Ike Turner’s backing group members — was born when Tina was 18.
She then married Ike, who adopted Craig, and the couple welcomed their son Ronnie.
She in turn, adopted Ike Jr. and Michael, whose mom was Ike’s previous wife Lorraine Taylor.
Ike and Tina’s famously troubled marriage ended in divorce in 1978.
She never got to meet her son Ronnie’s children, Raquel and Randy, nor did she ever know Raquel’s little boys, Tyson and Tyrese.
Both Raquel and Randy have struggled and are still trying to come to terms with their father’s loss, we’re told.
However, Raquel is said to posses a “beautiful” singing voice.
While Craig and Ike Jr. never had kids, Michael has a daughter, Tiffany Turner-Dukes.
Turner-Dukes has three children: daughter, Marli, and sons, Amari and Gianni, with her husband.
Tiffany has founded an anti-bullying non-profit, and is a jewelry designer and advocate for children with autism.
She is also a music producer, posting earlier this year about her complicated heritage, saying: “Growing up with a painful childhood along with a famous bloodline 🩸is not for the faint 😮💨.
“I broke many generational curses over my lifetime thus far and continue to do so as I write this.”
None of Tina’s three great-grandchildren through Michael met their rock star great-grandmother, but all of them are musical like their famous relatives.
Twanna Turner, who spoke to Page Six, was Ike’s daughter by Tina’s high school friend, Pat Richard.
Tina — then known by her birth name Anna Mae Bullock — attended Sumner High school in St. Louis, Tennessee, with Richard.
Together, they would go and watch Ike play in a local club.
Twanna, 63, said the family was left reeling from Tina’s death after a series of health struggles, including kidney disease: “No-one had heard from Tina in a while, it happened so suddenly.”
But her death brought up all the headlines about her marriage to Ike.
In her hit 1986 biography “I, Tina”, the singer wrote of his constant abuse during their 20-year relationship.
She told how she suffered third-degree burns from having hot coffee thrown in her face and that her nose was punched so often, it caused blood to seep into her throat when she sang.
The abuse caused her to attempt suicide, and filled her with “nightmares” that stayed with her for much of her life, she said.
She claimed that Ike took her to a brothel in Tijuana, Mexico, on the night of their wedding and made her watch a live sex show.
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And she also revealed he regularly cheated on her, and enjoyed sex that was closer to a form of rape.
She said: “Sex with Ike had become an expression of hostility — a kind of rape — especially when it began or ended with a beating.
“What had been ugly and hateful between us before became worse with every snort of cocaine.”
The marriage was depicted on the big screen in 1993’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It”, with Angela Bassett giving an Oscar-nominated turn as Tina. Laurence Fishburne played Ike.
Bringing up the past has been extremely hard for the family, as her granddaughter Tiffany, 40, posted on social media following Tina’s death: “Rest in freedom … Uncle Craig and Ronnie are waiting for you .”
However, Tiffany hit back at trolls, saying: “People who only know 1 side of a sold story will forever have 1 way to see it. IDGAF what you think you know…you don’t know S–T if you ain’t my bloodline.”
She added: “Having famous grandparents with a story like theirs is the most hard thing to cope with.
“Healing and forgiveness do exist. But…unfortunately…in this game… that’s never the story that is sold or told. If you have an issue with my bloodline and my last name…unfollow me in real life.”
Twanna — who only met Ike when she was 28 in 1987, but went on to forge a close relationship with him before his death in December 2007 — told Page Six: “When Tina passed, all I could think was ‘now the floodgates will be open on my dad. I couldn’t even grieve Tina. I’ve been in protective mode of Daddy since I met him.”
Ike had always denied abusing Tina, and Twanna said: “He always told me ‘baby, if Tina thinks this is what she needs to do to get to where she needs to go, that’s between her and God’…he never spoke ill of her.”
Tina was left devastated by the death of her eldest son, Craig, who took his own life on July 3, 2018 at age 59. He had a history of struggling with drugs.
Later that month, she wrote on Twitter: “My saddest moment as a mother. On Thursday, July 19 2018, I said my final goodbye to my son, Craig Raymond Turner, when I gathered with family and friends to scatter his ashes off the coast of California.
“He was fifty-nine when he died so tragically, but he will always be my baby.”
Then on December 8 last year, Ronnie died from colon cancer at age 62, leaving behind his children and his grief-stricken wife Afida Turner.
He collapsed by his car outside his Studio City home as he tried to make his way to the doctor after telling a friend he could not breathe.
Tina could not make it to his funeral in LA, family sources said.
Breaking down in tears, Twanna said: “I was very close with Ronnie, we spoke every day, and I was just getting to know Craig — we were over at Craig’s house two weeks before he passed.
“Craig was going to see the Tina musical on his birthday, he was happy, so excited, he hoped it was a time of healing for the family, finally, that’s why it was such a shock.
“And then we lost my precious brother Ronnie…he was on the phone with a family friend who was supposed to be going to the doctor with him that morning, he said ‘my chest really hurts, it’s hard to breathe’, she told him to stay put, she was on her way and he didn’t listen.
“He was on his way to his car when he collapsed on the sidewalk.”
Ronnie’s wife Afida revealed that Tina’s husband, Erwin, who she married 10 years ago after a 27-year romance, is set to inherit almost half of her estimated $250 million fortune.
Bach, 67, supported the star through a stroke just after they wed, and donated one of his kidneys when she needed a transplant in 2017.
But Afida said it was not clear who would inherit the remainder of Tina’s fortune, as her sons both died before her.
Switzerland is extremely private and citizens are not obliged to lodge their will with an official body.
It is not considered to be public information.
There will, however, be an official opening of the will in Meilen, but we’re told this is not a public event.
Meanwhile, Ronnie’s daughter Raquel has had no shortage of her own struggles.
In April 2017, she launched a GoFundMe to raise cash to pay for legal bills to get custody of her son Tyson, whose father is Karl Oldnettle.
She has twice taken out temporary restraining orders against Oldnettle, 45, in Los Angeles: once in 2019 — which lapsed — and again in 2022.
However, family sources said that although she went through a difficult time, Raquel — now in her 30s — is “doing better now” and had inherited her grandmother’s beautiful voice.
She is also close to her 36-year-old brother, Randy, who also lives in Los Angeles.
Twanna said: “It’s been very difficult, and this is why the family just needs time to grieve, and to be together.”
