The late Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll walked away from her abusive marriage to Ike Turner with just $US36 cents ($A50 cents) and a Mobil credit card in her pocket.
But by the time of her death in 2023, Tina Turner had amassed a staggering $US250 million ($A380 million) fortune and a luxe real estate investment.
The Simply The Best superstar owned a massive $US76 million ($A116 million) “weekend retreat” in Switzerland.
Known as Villa Algonquin, the 10-building waterfront mansion features a swimming pool, boat deck and its own private pond.
Turner renounced her US citizenship in 2013 to become a Swiss citizen, finally buying the home she had rented for 15 years.
“I have left America because my success was in another country and my boyfriend was in another country,” she previously told Larry King, referring to her longtime partner Erwin Bach.
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Tina Turner had amassed a staggering $US250 million fortune. Picture: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
The Simply The Best superstar owned a massive $US76 million “weekend retreat” in Switzerland. Picture: Google
Divorced with 36 cents and no house
The Private Dancer singer’s marriage to Ike ended abruptly after the pair got into a fight on the way to their hotel one evening.
After years of domestic abuse from her spouse, the music star left with only $US36 cents ($A50 cents) and a Mobil credit card in her pocket.
The River Deep Mountain hit maker was given custody of their four children after the divorce was finalised in 1978.
The rock icon, born Anna Mae Bullock, said that she never received any money in the settlement, just two cars and the rights to her stage name.
“The divorce, I got nothing. No money, no house. So I said: I’ll just take my name,” she said in an interview featured in the documentary Tina.
Turner put on cabaret shows and cleaned houses to make ends meet. She relied on food stamps and appeared on TV shows such as Hollywood Squares to make money.
Turner with her former husband Ike in 1975. Picture: Supplied/United Artists handout.
The singer made a dramatic comeback in 1982 with the multi-platinum album Private Dancer, which included hits Let’s Stay Together and What’s Love Got To Do With It, Page Six reports.
The album went on to win four Grammy Awards and eventually sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.
The songstress starred opposite Mel Gibson in the 1985 post-apocalyptic action flick Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
She officially retired from the stage in 2009 after completing her Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour, one of the highest-grossing tours of all time.
Just weeks before buying her Swiss home, Turner agreed to sell her music catalogue to German music company BMG for a reported $68 million.
Turner and Mel Gibson on the set of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Picture: Warner Bros. Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
Who inherited Tina Turner’s estate?
While Turner’s will remains private under Swiss law, Bach is widely reported as the primary beneficiary of her estate.
Her daughter-in-law Afida revealed how the star’s wealth was likely to be split.
“As she married in Switzerland, I think around 47 per cent will go to the spouse and the rest to the children,” she told the Sunday Mirror.
Afida was married to the singer’s late son Ronnie in 2007 until his death in 2022 aged 62 from complications linked to colon cancer.
Turner also adopted two of Ike’s sons, and a son named Craig from a previous relationship with musician Raymond Hill, when she was 18.
Turner and Erwin Bach 2018 in London, England. Picture: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images
Craig died by suicide in 2018, which Turner described as her “saddest moment as a mother”.
Afida added about how the family set-up may lead to complications over how her estate is split: “Tina’s two children are Craig and Ronnie – she never adopted Ike Jr.
“It’s just because she was with Ike that they were in the family, so the only ‘blood’ descendants are Craig and Ronnie.
“Today I’m the only one with the name – there are no other Turners.”
Afida stressed she wasn’t thinking about Turner’s money, adding: “I’m not here for that. I’m here to respect my mother-in-law.
“I’ve always earned my own money – no one has ever given me anything in the Turner family – that’s the Turner way, OK.”
Parts of this story first appeared in Page Six and was republished with permission.
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