Cher Says a Bruised Tina Turner Once Asked for Advice on How to ‘Leave’ Abusive Husband Ike

Cher once gave Tina Turner some advice that changed her life.

In his new memoir, Cher: Memoirs, Part Oneout Nov. 19, the actress-singer, 78, writes that Turner once came to her asking for advice on how to leave her husband, Ike Turner.

In the book, Cher recalls Turner coming over Show Sonny & Cher twice with the musician Ike and they became friends. In one of the days of shooting the show, the “Private Dancer” artist asked sirens star for some makeup to cover the bruise on her arm.

Tina Turner and Cher in February 2008.

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

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She then asked Cher how she left Sonny Bono, whom she married in 1969 and divorced in 1975, and claims he once “groped her” in the book.

“I looked at her and told her, ‘I just got out and moved on,'” writes the “Believe” singer.

Cher recalls that while they were rehearsing, Ike “didn’t smile once” and played the guitar “without any emotion.”

“I just knew that what he was feeling was not good,” she writes.

Tina Turner and Cher.

Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive/Getty

Turner married Ike in 1962, and they divorced in 1976. During much of the 1960s and 70s, they performed together as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue.

In a December 1981 interview with PEOPLE, Turner opened up about her abusive marriage to Ike and how she escaped it.

“I lived the life of death,” she said. “I didn’t exist. I wasn’t afraid of being killed when I left, because I was already dead. When I got out, I didn’t look back.”

Turner recalled feeling like “just a shadow” in the mid-1960s during their success on the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, telling PEOPLE, “Ike took care of everything — the sound, the band, the hiring, the management and the money” while she expected to make breakfast for the band at 4 am

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Tina and Ike Turner in April 1975.

CBS via Getty Images

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Later in their marriage, she found strength in the study and practice of Buddhism. But Ike’s physical abuse worsened.

“When Ike saw me sing,” Turner said of her ex, who died in 2007 at age 76, “the veins in his face popped. He didn’t want to hear anything that would give me power.”

Although she said Ike could be “very loving,” it wasn’t without a connection.

“He helped a lot of people in need. But you owed him your life. He didn’t give for free,” said Turner — who died in 2023 at age 83.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or go to thehotline.org. All calls are free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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Source: HIS Education