Music legend Tina Turner passed away 'peacefully' at her home in Switzerland aged 83 yesterday following a long health battle.
The What's Love Got To Do With It singer's death was confirmed by her team on Instagram who uploaded a black and white photo of the star with a caption which read: "It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner.
"With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow. Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly."
In one of the US singer's final Instagram posts, she marked International World Kidney Day and urged fans to "Show your kidneys love!" as she admitted she had put herself in "great danger" by ignoring her health issues in the past.
Tina who's birth name was Anna Mae Muller is understood to have received a kidney transplant in 2017 from her beloved husband and had a history of high blood pressure and kidney disease.
However, this is not the only major health scare that the star came face to face with during the course of her life as it is believed that her ignorance towards her severe hypertension is what led to her other illnesses.
She revealed during in a serialisation of her autobiography in the Daily Mail that she 'began to think about death' and even signed up for an assisted suicide group when her health was very poor.
Here we take a closer look at Tina Turner's multiple tragic health battles that she fought over the years.
Stroke
Turner suffered a stroke in 2013 just three months into her marriage to her second husband Erwin Bach, but her health battles actually dated back to 1978 when she was first diagnosed with high blood pressure.
Tina opened up about the terrifying experience in her memoir as she recalled how she felt when she realised what was happening to her body.
The star wrote: "A lightning bolt struck my head and my right leg — at least that's how it felt — and I had a funny sensation in my mouth that made it difficult for me to call out to Erwin for help.
"I suspected it wasn't good, but it was worse than I ever imagined. I was having a stroke.'
Turner recovered in hospital for 10 days and had to teach herself how to walk again, but this was unfortunately only the beginning of her decade long health battles.
High blood pressure is one of the most common causes of a stroke and it is likely that Tina's ignorance towards her health condition is what led to it.
Intestinal cancer
The star was diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2016, three years after her stroke.
Intestinal cancer is a very rare type of illness which disrupts the tubing that carries digested food between your stomach and colon.
Tumours in the small intestine can prevent the block flow of food and impact of pain which leads to agonising pain, vomiting and nausea.
Tina chose to undergo surgery to remove the tumour which ultimately delayed her crucial kidney transplant.
The 'A Fool In Love' singer beat cancer but was sadly hit with another major health crisis shortly after she received the all clear.
Kidney disease
Tina discovered she had kidney disease in the same year she beat intestinal cancer but it seemed that her most recent illness had been a long time coming.
The star was diagnosed with severe hypertension in 1978 which means she suffered from extremely high blood pressure which was something that went untreated for many years.
Turner had been prescribed medication in 1985 but insisted that it was making her more unwell and swapped them out for homeopathic remedies instead which essentially led to her kidney failure.
In a serialisation of her autobiography in the Daily Mail, she admitted that she knew her doctors would not be pleased with her decision so she took the "coward's way out and simply didn't tell them".
She later found out during another check up that her natural treatments had not been successful and by December 2016, her kidneys were functioning at less than 20% and were plunging rapidly.
Tina was faced with two options - either regular dialysis or a kidney transplant - but only the latter would provide her with a good life.
However, at the time the star, who lived in Switzerland, explained that the nation had one of Europe's lowest donor rates and that the chances of her receiving one on time were "remote".
That's when the singer began to consider death and attended assisted suicide group Exit while she made arrangements.
Speaking of her initial decision, Tina explained: “It wasn’t my idea of life. But the toxins in my body had started taking over. I couldn’t eat. I was surviving but not living. I began to think about death.”
Tina's beloved husband Erwin Bach came to her rescue when he shocked her by offering her his own kidney when he was 60-years-old.
They underwent compatibility tests and despite the star being a high risk patient due to her high blood pressure, the transplant successfully went ahead on April 7 2017.
The German music producer fully recovered from the surgery, but Turner had to continue taking strong doses of immunosuppressants.
Speaking of her husband's brave decision, she said: "He said he didn’t want another woman, or another life. Then he shocked me. He said he wanted to give me one of his kidneys.”
Just weeks before her death, Tina took to Instagram on March 9 to deliver a poignant message to her followers about the importance of looking after your kidneys.
She admitted that she was to blame for her ignorance towards her own body's healthcare needs so many years ago as she wrote: ”My kidneys are victims of my not realising that my high blood pressure should have been treated with conventional medicine.
”I have put myself in great danger by refusing to face the reality that I need daily, lifelong therapy with medication.
”For far too long, I believed that my body was an untouchable and indestructible bastion.”
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
The singer, who sadly endured many health battles, also sadly suffered from mental health issues after she endured 14 years of horrific abuse at the hands of her ex-husband.
Tina, who divorced American musician Ike Turner in 1978, claims that he had previously broken her nose and jaw and left her with numerous black eyes.
The Mirror reported that the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll felt so trapped in her marriage that she had even tried to take her own life by swallowing 50 sleeping pills prescribed to her by her doctor.
While reflecting on her life, the singer tragically admitted during her 2021 documentary that she had not had a very good life and had suffered a lot of abuse.
She said: “The good did not balance the bad. I had an abusive life, there’s no other way to tell the story. It’s a reality. It’s a truth. That’s what you’ve got, so you have to accept it.
“Some people say the life that I lived and the performances that I gave, the appreciation, is blasting with the people. And yeah, I should be proud of that. I am.“
She added: “But when do you stop being proud? I mean, when do you, how do you bow out slowly? Just go away?“
Many years after Tina's divorce to Ike, who passed away from a drug overdose in 2007, the star found love with her second husband Erwin Bach who she loved until the day she died.
Bach stuck with his wife through all her health battles and even saved her life when he donated her his kidney.
According to the NHS, PTSD is estimated to affect about 1 in every 3 people who go through a traumatic experience and can occur weeks, months or even years later after a disturbing event.
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