Tina Turner has been open about the physical abuse and domestic violence she suffered at the hands of her late ex-husband, Ike Turner — but she only now revealed that she suffered sexual abuse as well.
Tina, 78, claimed that she was “too embarrassed” to admit the extent of Ike’s behavior previously and that their marriage began on a dark note in a Tijuana, Mexico, brothel.
“What kind of bridegroom takes his brand-new wife to a live pornographic sex show, right after their marriage ceremony? There I sat, in this filthy place, watching Ike out of the corner of my eye, wondering: ‘Does he really like this? How could he?'” Tina recalled in her upcoming memoir, “My Love Story,” excerpted in The Daily Mail.
“It was all so ugly. The male performer was unattractive and seemingly impotent, and the girl — well, let’s just say that what was on display was more gynecological than erotic,” Tina wrote. “I was miserable, on the verge of tears, but there was no escape. We couldn’t leave until Ike was ready, and he was having a fine old time.”
When Ike and Tina returned to Los Angeles as a newlywed couple, she claims that she blocked the experience out of her mind and switched the narrative to become “a romantic elopement.”
Ike’s sexual appetite was seemingly never satiated, and Tina claimed that in the early 1970s he began to use cocaine to increase his stamina in bed, which became a hellish experience for the “Proud Mary” singer.
“Sex with Ike had become an expression of hostility — a kind of rape — especially when it began or ended with a beating,” she alleged.
“What had been ugly and hateful between us before became worse with every snort of cocaine. He threw hot coffee in my face, giving me third-degree burns. He used my nose as a punching bag so many times that I could taste blood running down my throat when I sang. He broke my jaw. And I couldn’t remember what it was like not to have a black eye. The people closest to us saw what was happening, but they couldn’t stop him: any attempt to help me would make him more violent.”
Ike and Tina split for good in 1976 after Tina snuck out and hid at a Dallas Ramada Inn after he’d allegedly beaten her.
Ike denied beating Tina in his autobiography, “Takin’ Back My Name,” but admitted to slapping her.
In March, Tina said she forgave Ike for the years of abuse she’d suffered, but admitted she still had nightmares from the trauma.