Singer Tina Turner said she has undergone kidney transplant surgery. File Photo by David Silpa/UPI |
By Karen Butler, UPI
Music legend Tina Turner writes in her new memoir My Love Story that she underwent a kidney transplant operation in April 2017 and her husband, Erwin Bach, was the donor.
The couple married in 2013 after 27 years together, but Turner fell ill shortly after the wedding. First, she suffered a stroke, then she battled intestinal cancer. The homeopathic course of treatment she chose eventually lead to kidney failure.
"I wondered if anyone would think that Erwin's living donation was transactional in some way," the 78-year-old singer said in her book about her 62-year-old spouse, according to People.com.
"Incredibly, considering how long we had been together, there were still people who wanted to believe that Erwin married me for my money and fame. What else would a younger man want with an older woman? Erwin always ignored the rumors."
The eight-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist was previously married to her performing partner Ike Turner for 14 years before their relationship ended in a violent fight in July 1976. Their stormy marriage was chronicled in the 1993 film, What's Love Got to Do With It.