ZURICH, SWITZERLAND: Late legendary musician Tina Turner, who died on May 24 aged 83, suffered a lifetime of heartache when it came to her mother, Zelma Priscilla. The mother-daughter duo shared a complicated relationship throughout Turner’s life, even when she established herself as the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll, until Priscilla's death in 1999 at the age of 81.
Turner’s troubled relationship with her mother was chronicled in the 1986 autobiography, ‘I, Tina: My Life Story’ as well as her 2021 HBO documentary, ‘Tina.’ “She didn’t love me. And I knew the difference because I used to watch her with my sister, Alline – how she was with her and then how she was with me. She loved Alline,” Turner told Rolling Stone in 1986. “She didn’t want me, she didn’t want to be around me, even though she wanted my success. But I did for her as if she loved me,” she reiterated in 2021.
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‘I knew she didn’t love me’
Turner had a traumatizing childhood as she grew up seeing her father, Floyd Bullock, being abusive to her mother. She was 11 when Priscilla left the family and ended her relationship with Bullock by relocating to St Louis. Two years later, Bullock married another woman and sent Turner and her sister to live with her grandmother in Brownsville, Tennessee. After her grandmother’s death, Turner moved to St Louis with Priscilla.
However, Turner realized that her mother never wanted her and that she was abandoned by both her parents. “She was a very young woman who didn't want another kid,” the singer wrote in her autobiography. Speaking to Daily Record for a 2000 interview while preparing her for final Scottish concert, Turner opened up about losing a lifetime battle to win her mother’s love, reports in The Free Library show.
“My mother didn't love me, it was as simple as that. Even when I was a little girl, I knew she didn't love me,” she stated. “When my mother was pregnant with me, she was leaving my father… When I was very young, I wondered why we weren't close, but I was always a loner. And then I became more independent and didn't care anymore,” Turner shared. The musician also confronted her mother about their complicated relationship later in life.
“I confronted her years later, when a European psychic explained to me that I had been an unwanted child while still inside her. I said ‘Ma, I want to talk to you because we never got along.’ And she cried and told me that it was true,” the Grammy winner revealed.
Tina Turner’s mother never showed her empathy
Turner also revealed that Priscilla never showed compassion or support when she was abused by her first husband and former partner, Ike. She claimed that her mother instead attributed all of Turner's success to Ike. “When I was with Ike, my mother thought he did everything, because he was a star when I met him,” the ‘Private Dancer’ creator recalled. “It was very hard for my mother and my sister to respect me for my talent. We were two people, but Ike took the credit and they weren’t even smart enough to see that I mattered,” she added.
Turner reiterated her statement in her HBO documentary. “Mom was not kind. When I became a star, of course back then she was happy because I bought her a house. I did all kinds of things for her, she was my mother. I was trying to make her comfortable because she didn’t have a husband, she was alone, but she still didn’t like me,” she mentioned. “Even after I became Tina, Ma was still a little bit like, ‘Who did that?’ and ‘Who did this?’ And I said, ‘I did that, Mom!’ I was happy to show my mother what I did. I had a house, I had got a car, and she said, ‘No, I don’t believe it. No, you’re my daughter, no you didn’t!’” Turner remembered.
Tina Turner tried to make amends and cared for her mother
Turner made an effort to repair her relationship with her mother despite their enduring conflicts. The star wanted to show her mother what she had accomplished after establishing her wildly successful solo career by giving her a house and some money. However, it is claimed that Priscilla never expressed appreciation for Turner's work or acknowledged her accomplishments.
“Eventually, I brought Ma to Paris, London, Switzerland and New York to show her my world. But she still didn't believe that I had done everything for myself,” Turner shared. However, Priscilla once again credited Turner’s then-partner, her second husband Erwin Bach, for the beautiful decoration of the houses. “When we got to my house in the south of France, she believed that my boyfriend had decorated it, even though he told her, ‘Tina is the interior decorator.’”
Turner also remembered the day she felt that made Priscilla recognize her talent. “At my house in Switzerland everything was lying around. We were building and I explained in 30 minutes how we had been putting the whole house together, she walked upstairs and said, ‘You did all this?’ I said, ‘Ma, I told you. This is what I can do.’ And she was quiet. She finally realized, in her own way, at her age, who I was.”
The ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It’ hitmaker also cared for her mother when the latter suffered from cancer at the end of her life. “She gave everybody a hard time - during her illness, we went through 20 nurses. No matter how much we tried to help, she couldn’t find her peace. She really suffered those last eight months,” Turner shared.
Tina Turner did not attend her mother’s funeral
When Priscilla died in October 1999, Ike wept at her funeral while Turner stayed away. The latter revealed that she wanted to avoid being the key attention at the funeral and wished to give her mother respect while she was laid to rest. Turner was on a promotional tour in Europe for her album ‘Twenty Four Seven’ when she received the news of her mother's death.
“Even although I was away, I called daily. One afternoon I was preparing for a bath when someone came in and said, ‘Tina, ma died.’ I just screamed and screamed,” Turner recalled. She also alleged that Ike leaked the story about her absence from the funeral. While Turner was furious over Ike’s attendance at the funeral, she also knew her mother would have wanted his presence.
“He and Ma had kept in touch. And he showed up and was very upset that I wasn't there. So he went to all the newspapers and all over Europe the Press said ‘Tina shuns her mother's memorial,’” Turner claimed. “I wanted to give my mother her moment. Everyone called asking, ‘Is Tina going to be there?’ But I wasn't in the frame of mind to be stared at. I didn't need it. Nor did Ma need it from me. So I felt, let her have her day,” she explained.
However, Turner was upset over Ike being referred to as “the cherished son-in-law” in her mother’s memorial tributes. “In the end, people saw Ike using my dead mother to get in the Press,” she later stated. A week after Priscilla’s funeral, Turner was present at her cremation, which took place away from the public eye. She even cremated Priscilla’s ashes at sea and kept the location of the ceremony a secret from Ike. It was later revealed that Priscilla always wished for her ashes to be scattered at the sea.
