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There’s a video of Mike Wallace interviewing Tina Tuner for “60 Minutes” in 1997 that recirculated after she died at the age of 83 this week.
In it, Turner shows Wallace her palatial home in Nice, France, and the pair share a moment over the breathtaking luxury of it all.
“You feel like you deserve all this?” Wallace asks Turner, to which she responds, “I deserve more.”
It was just one example of Turner knowing her worth, something hard won after a difficult past that included poverty, racism and domestic abuse.
While she chose to share her experiences as a survivor of domestic abuse, she also defined herself beyond it.
Turner first went public about the violence she said she suffered in her marriage and musical partnership to Ike Turner during an interview with People magazine in 1981, in part, she said, to make sure people knew the truth.
“I wanted to stop people from thinking that Ike & Tina was so positive, that we were such a great team,” Turner said in the 2021 HBO documentary, “Tina.” “I thought, if nothing else, at least people know.”
Ike and Tina Turner married in 1962. She fled from him 16 years later with only 36 cents and a Mobil credit card in her wallet, an event famously dramatized in the 1993 film “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” featuring Angela Bassett starring as Turner.
“I was living a life of death,” Turner told People. “I didn’t exist. I didn’t fear him killing me when I left, because I was already dead. When I walked out, I didn’t look back.”
Prior to the superstar singer sharing her account, domestic violence was often only associated with women living in poverty. When Turner, as an internationally revered star detailed the brutality she said she lived with, it sparked conversation and cultural awareness about abuse.
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Tina Turner performs at a concert in Versailles, France, in 1990.
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Turner performs with her husband, Ike Turner, in 1964. He recruited her at age 17 to join his band as a singer.
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Turner poses for portraits in 1964. Tina was her stage name. She was born Anna Mae Bullock near Nutbush, Tennessee, in 1939.
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Ike and Tina, seen here in 1966, were married in 1962. They raised four children, including two children from Ike's previous relationships and Tina's son, Craig, also from a previous relationship.
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The Turners perform at a TV recording in London in 1966. Tina sang lead on most of their songs while her husband remained in the background, usually on guitar. Offstage, their marriage remained tumultuous.
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Turner sings during a recording session circa 1969.
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Turner poses on a velvet sofa in Paris in 1971.
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Ike and Tina pose for a portrait with their children circa 1972. Standing with Ike, from left, are Ike Turner Jr. and Craig Hill. Sitting with Tina, from left, are Michael and Ronnie Turner.
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Turner holds a syringe in a scene from the movie "Tommy" in 1975.
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Turner wears a winged costume in 1977.
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Turner appears on an episode of "Laugh-In" with actor Ben Powers, left, and comedian Wayland Flowers in 1978.
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Turner and artist Andy Warhol share watermelon in 1981.
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Turner and dancers perform in The Hague, Netherlands, in 1982.
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Turner appears on David Letterman's late-night talk show in 1984.
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Turner performs "What's Love Got to Do With It," a hit song from her 1984 album "Private Dancer." Although she didn't like the song at first and had to be talked into recording it, it made her, at 44, the oldest female artist to score a No. 1 hit.
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Turner stars in the the film "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" in 1985.
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Turner shares a laugh with Lionel Richie as they celebrate their Grammy Award wins in 1985. She won three Grammys that year, including record of the year for "What's Love Got to Do With It."
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Turner poses for a portrait in 1985.
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Turner performs at a "Private Dancer" concert in London in 1985.
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Turner and Cher circa 1985.
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Turner was among the many artists who teamed up for the charity song "We Are the World" in 1985. She's on the far left in the second row.
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Turner performs with Mick Jagger at the Live Aid concert in Philadelphia in 1985.
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Turner receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1986.
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Turner dances on the streets of Rio de Janeiro with traditional Carnival performers in 1987. She was in Brazil as part of her world tour.
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Turner sits on a soccer field in Rio de Janeiro in 1988.
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Britain's Queen Elizabeth II shakes Turner's hand after a performance in London in 1989.
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Turner performs in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 1990.
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Turner poses in front of Woburn Abbey as she tours England in 1990.
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Turner, left, and actress Angela Bassett rehearse a performance as Bassett portrayed her in the 1993 film "What's Love Got to Do With It." Bassett was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Golden Globe Award for best actress.
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Turner gets ready for a show backstage at New York's Radio City Music Hall in 1993.
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Turner and actor Bruce Willis rehearse before a show in Paris in 1996. Willis and his group The Accelerators were opening for Turner.
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Turner appears in a skit with Molly Shannon during an episode of "Saturday Night Live" in 1997.
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Turner performs in Tinley Park, Illinois, in 1997.
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Turner performs as part of the Super Bowl pregame show in 2000.
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Turner embraces Oprah Winfrey during the launch party for Winfrey's O Magazine in 2000.
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President George W. Bush congratulates Turner during a White House reception for Kennedy Center honorees in 2005. Other honorees, from left, are singer Tony Bennett, dancer Suzanne Farrell, actress Julie Harris and actor Robert Redford.
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Turner performs with Beyoncé at the Grammy Awards in 2008.
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Turner kicks off a tour in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2008.
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Turner, center, takes a bow with actors Daniel J. Watts and Adrienne Warren on the opening night of the Broadway musical "Tina" in 2019.
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Turner is photographed at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland, in 2019. Turner moved to Switzerland in the 1990s with German boyfriend Erwin Bach, an executive for her record company who she later married.
She revealed more of her life story in her 1986 book, “I, Tina,” and domestic violence became a frequent topic in many of her interviews.
Yet with all that Turner shared, she told the New York Times in 2019 that she had never told the full story of how bad it was for her.
“I think I’m ashamed,” she said. “I feel I told enough.”
For his part, Ike Turner, who died in 2007 at the age of 76, consistently denied that he was the person his ex-wife described.
“‘Ike Turner, known as the meanest man alive, the ugly woman-beater’ or whatever; people always got to say some [expletive] like that,” he told the Washington Post in 1997. “See, they put that movie out right during the time of that women’s movement, and Tina fit right into that. That women’s-lib thing, she was a good vehicle for them to get behind. It really hurt me a lot, but I’m getting over it, man.”
“You can’t undo what’s been done,” he later said. “And I have no regrets … I did nothing that I’m ashamed of. I did nothing that I won’t do again.”
There was probably plenty Tina Turner would have done differently, as one of the main themes of her 2021 documentary was the unhappiness she endured with him for years.
But there was also triumph.
After being left deeply in debt following their divorce, Tina Turner reclaimed her career and became an even bigger star than when she had performed with her ex-husband.
Her 1984 solo album “Private Dancer” featured several hits, including the Grammy-winning single, “What’s Love Got to Do with It.”
Critics praised both the album and her voice.
“Rolling on the river without Ike in the boat, Tina Turner makes a powerful comeback on Private Dancer,” Debby Miller wrote for Rolling Stone at the time. “Turner throws herself into the material here, her voice rasping but strong, physical and impossibly sensual. There isn’t a single dud among the songs, and they’re given modern rock settings that are neither detached nor very fussy.”
More hit songs, millions of records sold, movie roles, sold-out tours, two inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a Broadway musical about her life and career followed.
There was also the longtime love she found with Erwin Bach, a record executive with whom she shared the last 40 years of her life.
Turner was clear that she had moved on from her painful past.
“I don’t know if I could ever forgive all that Ike ever did to me,” she said in 2019, adding, “Ike’s dead. So, we don’t have to worry about him.”