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Tina Turner‘s first child, son Craig Turner, has died from an apparent suicide at the age of 59.
According to USA Today, the star’s son, who worked in real estate, died on Tuesday. With confirmation from the Los Angeles coroner’s office, the publication reported that he died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, and was found on Tuesday afternoon in his Studio City, Calif. home. An autopsy is pending.
Craig was Tina’s child with saxophonist Raymond Hill, who played with future husband Ike Turner in the band Kings of Rhythm. She became pregnant with Craig when she was 18 and stayed with Hill, who lived with Ike. After her relationship with Raymond fell apart (and reportedly ended with him getting beat up by his Kings of Rhythm group mates), she ended up in a relationship with Ike. He would go on to adopt Craig after marrying her in 1962, and Craig would take the Turner surname.
As pointed out by USA Today, during an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2005, Tina said that her eldest son was an “emotional kid.” He provided her with support during the years of physical abuse she endured at the hands of Ike.
She also admitted during an interview with Rolling Stone in 1986 that she tried to commit suicide when things got really bad, which was depicted in her biopic, What’s Love Got to Do with It. She said that once she picked up the Buddhist faith, everything changed.
“Because I didn’t know how to get out. You’ve got to think, you’ve got to use your head, and when I started chanting is when I started using my head,” she said. “I started thinking, ‘I’m not going to kill myself, there’s nothing here for me. This person doesn’t realize that I am helping him, that I have tried to be good and kind.’ So that’s when I actually went to the spiritual side of myself for help. And I got it.”
Craig was Tina’s first of two biological sons. Her only child with Ike was son Ronnie, and she adopted Ike’s sons Michael and Ike, Jr.
