During Cher’s last visit to Switzerland to see her longtime friend Tina Turner, the star left with a parting gift: a pair of Turner high heels.
“I’m not going to wear them,” Cher tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “I just have them in the closet.”
The trip marked the last time Cher, 77, saw Turner, as the Queen of Rock died in May aged 83 after a long illness. Despite her health issues, Cher says Turner was still a fun-loving woman during another, recent visit.
“I have to see her. She was lying on a deckchair and said: ‘I’m tired.’ Then we ran around the house for two hours, and she laughed hysterically – he recalls. “She just needed to speak and shout. That’s the Tina I loved. We had the best time and talked about old times.”
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Cher’s friendship with the “Proud Mary” singer goes back decades; the pair performed a famous duet on the song “Shame, Shame, Shame” in her solo Cher variety show in 1975 (in matching fringed dresses), and they sang together several more times over the years, including with Elton John in 1999.
Cher. Cher reveals she visited Tina Turner shortly before her death: ‘She was very happy’
The sweet 2008 moment during which the duo, then in their 60s, were interviewed by Oprah Winfrey even shows them holding hands while being asked how they feel about getting older. “I think it’s a no-brainer,” Cher replies, prompting Turner to laugh.
“We had many good memories,” she says.
In recent years, Turner has battled a number of serious health problems, including a stroke, bowel cancer and complete kidney failure that required an organ transplant.
Her death was announced in a statement shared by her publicist Bernard Doherty, who said she “died peacefully” at her home in Küsnacht, near Zurich.
“With her, the world is losing a musical legend and role model,” the statement said.
For more from Cher, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE magazine, on newsstands everywhere now.
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