What’s Love Got to Do With It? Ike and Tina’s Troubled Relationship

The Unwanted Child

“See, my mother didn’t want me in the first place,” the singer continued. “What I simply missed was that she didn’t love me. And I knew the difference because I used to watch her with my sister, Alline.” Tina says that her mother fawned over Alline, making it very clear that Tina was unwanted.

Tina Turner posing for a portrait circa 1973

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

Three years later, her father up and left, forcing Tina and her sister to grow up quickly. The two briefly went to live with their grandmother, and eventually made their way to St. Louis to live with their estranged mother. This marked the beginning of a hard time for the little girl who went on to become one of the world’s best-selling recording artists.