Tina Turner told longtime friend she was “ready to go anytime”
Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on May 30, 2023
A longtime friend of Tina Turner tells People that the late Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll was ready to embrace the end of her life.
Stephen Sills — that’s Sills, not Stills — is a designer who helped decorate Tina’s home in the South of France and visited her every year in Switzerland. Speaking to People, he says, “She told me two years ago, she said, ‘Stephen, I’m ready to go anytime. I’m not scared of death. I’ve had a wonderful last part of life. I’ve enjoyed it, but I’m tired.'”
Sills says after Tina received a kidney from her husband, Erwin Bach, in 2017, she “struggled with dialysis,” but stayed upbeat. He recalls calling her house three weeks ago to check in with Tina.
“I said, ‘How’s she doing?’ [The housekeeper] said, ‘She’s happy and she’s comfortable. Everything’s good,'” he recalls.
“She was such an amazing friend and she had such a force of creativity,” Sills continues. “The Tina Turner persona of performing, that was a made-up person. We used to talk about it, and she created that and it was a beautiful image. But she was absolutely positive and energetic and interested and curious. She was just an amazing person.”
The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer died May 24 at her home near Zurich, Switzerland, after what was described as “a long illness.” She was 83.
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