'I think Craig was lonely': Tina Turner opens up for the first time about her son's suicide

"a good place" means "out of my basement finally".

I hadn't known of that and am saddened to hear it. Tina was great.

Did she have much contact with her kids after she moved to Switzerland?

Was her son a homosexualist?

shit, she hadn't seen him in years. she is probably glad he's dead so she don't have to hear his name anymore.

No Tina, you're in a good place right now , he's not!

Her son, and I'm sure she loves him....but seems to be no connection between them

In a good place only three months later? Lol

Why is she posting a picture of his funeral when they hardly seen each other in the past?

"My saddest moment of a mother"

please, that's hypocritical BS

People are surprised she had a son, she actually has 4.

Yikes! What a strange thing to say. So, detached. I guess she’s not the maternal type.

I noticed she chocked when remembering Ike's abuse which was decades ago, but not when talking about the suicide of her son, which was a couple of months ago. Were they estranged?

Sell Out!

I suspect the guy had a history of unhappiness and Tina wasn't surprised at what happened. He was 59.

you'd be unhappy too if your mom was Tina Turner and you never saw her. What if your dad was a piece of shit like Ike Turner?

Craig was probably mentally ill and a lifelong problem that couldn't be fixed - which is why he's now at peace and in a "better place."

Kids of superstars always seem to be so screwed up

Too bad she wasn't a good mother and raised her son properly.

There's a part near the end of an interview with Larry King where he asks about each of her kids. I will link the interview (starts at 22:15) but if I remember correctly, she made some reference to them always coming to her for money and she wasn't impressed. Or words to that effect. I think the interview was in 1997.

Maybe so r16.

Eh, idk r16 - I have mental illness from having a horrible childhood due to having abusive narcissistic parents and I believe the neglect I endured because they resented me caused the most damage; more than being beaten, shamed or gaslighted because being ignored denies one’s very existence and is extremely damaging to self worth and ability to even form a sense of self.

I watched the Larry king video and basically said nannies raised her sons. Poor guy probably suffered his whole life because of her neglect.

She sounds like a shitty mother

Shitty mom, overrated singer. Just die old cunt.

Wow, R23. Just wow.

Why didn't she bring him to Switzerland with him, they have better medical care than in America. Craig was the son of Ike Turner's bandmate and saxophonist Raymont Hill, btw. Tina became pregnant with him when she was 18. They broke up shortly before Craig was born. After that she became involved with Ike even though she knew he was violent and had broken Hill's legs in a fight.

I saw some pictures of him visiting his mom's glamorous places but he was hardly ever photographed with her and he always seemed to have to sleep in a guesthouse.

No one on this thread knows any of the history or details- just the usual bunch f DL trolls.

Yes, R27, it’s pretty awful. I think she was closest to him, out of all her children. There are lots of photos of him visiting her in Europe, and he was at her wedding.

Tina has been very ill for the last few years. I just got her new memoir today, which is largely about her life since Ike. I’ve only just started it, but she did include an epilogue devoted to Craig (the book was largely written prior to his suicide).

She was a shitty mother. To basically call your own children who had to contend with their parents' abusive relationship and neglect, layabouts on national television says all I need to know about her. She didn't even attend her mother's funeral. Tina appears to be the common denominator in all these terribly dysfunctional relationships. Is she just a wronged angel? For all her "Diva" reputation, Diana Ross is probably the best superstar mother I can think of. Far better than Tina, Cher, Madonna, MJ, and on and on..

Poor Craig, having a narcissist mommy is one of the most lonely and sad existence in the world. And he finally escaped.

It seems after Ike, Tina wiped out any trace of black men in her life. Maybe her sons reminded her of Ike too much. Too bad they had to suffer for that.

She is not the saint and hero she is made out be be. She’s a narcisstic diva. Just because she was beaten by Ike and left after years of abuse she was made into a heroine. She is not. She survived but we all do. Many of us with worse trauma in childhood and most with much less luck, luxury and egocentrism.

R29, Diane shipped her daughters off to boarding school in Switzerland right after kindergarten.

Her mother didn’t want her and took Ike’s side.

For what it's worth, in an Oprah interview a few years ago, she said something along the lines of: her last world tour enabled her to get her affairs in order and take care of her estate and sons…

I'm not sure whether Ike Turner was his father or step-father, but first thing I thought of was that Craig grew up in a household where his mom was getting beaten up. For this reason alone, women should get the fuck out of an abusive relationship.

Ike Turner is not Craig’s biological father. His bio dad was Raymond Hill, a musician. Ike adopted Craig when he married Tina.

so r37. Ike was his "shit dad".

I love Tina Turner, but will someone tell me why she's digging up her past again.

Didn't we already go down this road in 1993's "What's Love Got to Do With It?" movie?

R39, her new book is largely about her life since Ike. As she says in the book, she’s lived another 42 years since their divorced.

The new "Tina" documentary doesn't even address Craig's suicide. It was very strange, considering there's a whole section of the film called "Family".

[quote] and reveals she thinks he's 'in a good place now'

In the grave?

[quote] She survived but we all do. Many of us with worse trauma in childhood

Oh Harry, we don't want to hear about it anymore!

I think the tough love stance is bullshit with these mega millionaire stars. She didn't have to give Craig millions, but she should have given him a leg up rather than have him die in poverty.

R41...Right. I just watched the documentary. Craig's suicide wasn't mentioned. At the end, there were two dedications...one was Craig, which showed that he died in 2018. I googled it and read about his suicide. That is strange. That would be a major event on one's life, especially a mother losing a child.

R45 I like her as a performer, but honestly, she never struck me as motherly. She almost never talked about her kids and when she did, she always seemed to sound like she was disappointed with them. She always seemed to gush over Erwin, but her kids seemed to be an afterthought. She could have invited him to her home in Switzerland if she thought he was lonely.

[quote] She could have invited him to her home in Switzerland if she thought he was lonely.

How do you know she didn't?

I guess she didn't pick up the motherly trait...as her own mother just up and left, and never came back for the kids.

r48 yes, why couldn't the turners been more like the jacksons

I don't know what the nature of their relationship was, but she does seem rather offhand about the situation.

I don't think any mega famous person have ever been good parents. Their careers, highly scheduled tours that take them all over the world, movie shoots...that always comes first. The kids are down their list of priorities. That's the pretty mild version of it. Then throw in some form of abuse...pretty fucked up for kids.

Her kids weren't exactly craving her attention. One of them sounds butt hurt about success. Ike Jr., sounds like an asshole. One of the others is in convalescent care. The other one she just sends money. That seems pretty nice.

They all stayed with Ike. I doubt they were very nice to her over the years.

Women have no obligation to be motherly.

Absolutely R53. If that's the case..don't have kids. You don't have to have them.

The truth of the matter is that Tina is not a nice person. She's always been a cold and mean lady. When Elton John calls you a "bitch" then you're a bitch.

R54 Anyone should and do have kids. That’s how it is. Good bad rich poor dumb smart.. It’s a total crapshoot who turns out ok and who doesn’t.

This thread has basically confirmed what I've always suspected about Tina Turner.

She left America and her family and children. Basically abandoning them. Pretty much wiping out all traces of black men as an earlier poster stated.

Moved to Europe with her white husband and basically don't care to have any type of interactions with her family. Not sure how true any of this is, but I've always kinda suspected that this was the case.

I guess it kinda depends what your experiences are in life. If your black and have had bad experiences with other black people, you tend to distance yourself from other black people. And if your a black person who have had a lot of issues with white people, you tend to cut white people completely out of your life and only deal with them only when you absolutely have to.

I've seen more of the latter through.

If Tina sends money to her children then that's good. She has it and some people are not able to achieve success for whatever reason.

Too much trolls in this thread

R57, thank you racist internet troll farm minion. Your worthless summation is duly noted.

Really, what do you expect her to say?

He didn’t bring him to Switzerland because he was an adult and had a life on the US.

She said exactly what she should have.

END OF THREAD

This all makes me appreciate Diana Ross’ success with raising all 5 of her children while active in her own career. They adore her and they appear to be a close knit family. Each has his/her own success.

[Quote] The truth of the matter is that Tina is not a nice person. She's always been a cold and mean lady. When Elton John calls you a "bitch" then you're a bitch.

Because she room control of her own career and refused to have men walk all over her anymore, the was rewarded with the title Bitch

Room= took

“Shitty mom, overrated singer. Just die old cunt.”

You have a serious Tina problem, Ike.

She didn’t seem that connected to her kids. I watched the HBO documentary and while interesting, it was basically a rehash of the film. They could’ve addressed the more recent happenings like her kids and Craig’s suicide. The Bee Gees documentary was similar, they basically skipped over the deaths of Maurice and Robin, as well has the latter’s estrangement from Barry after the former past away.

If I recall, one of her grandkids said she’s only met any of them a few times.

Honestly, she sounds like she should have never had kids. Why wouldn’t you want to see your own grandkids? Regardless of her relationship with her kids, the grandkids didn’t do anything wrong.

She sounds like a real bitch. All she ever harps on about is her husband. She’s a real pick me.

We all become our own persons and must take responsibility for our lives as adults. Some are more emotionally disturbed than others but a suicide at 59 is ones own decision. You can’t blame mama. I do get it’s hard to be a child if someone famous and distinguished. It’s a common enough phenomenon.

R67 = a Tina stan who keeps making excuses

"I had a son named Craig?"

I remember her being very aloof towards Oprah back in the 90s when Oprah had her on the show to promote her upcoming tour . Oprah was fawning all over her and Tina was not impressed with her at all. She treated Elton John the same way.

It's over, Defarto. Stop trolling your own thread. Move along.

You don't belong here.

Diana also married stable men who were actively involved in their kids lives.

Didn’t two of the four kids side with Ike during the divorce and a for a number of years afterwards (the two that weren’t tinas biological kids).

I don’t doubt Tina wasn’t close to her sons in later years but they weren’t babies when she moved to Switzerland they were close to or over 30 years old.

Oh if Elton says it’s true.......

Elton is the biggest narcissist cunt alive/ He is not a good person. Very jealous, petty man.

Though Tina does seem cold.

We are each on our own Craig. Tina. Each and every one of us.

So what you're saying is, Craig is no longer "One of the Living"?

I'm saying, There's no point in blaming Tina for being a bad mother to a 59 year old.

I do think r57 makes some good points. I think Tina moved to Switzerland to forget about the Ike years and the years where she struggled.

I do think it a bit odd, though, that she left her kids with Ike. I think in the documentary, at one point, she shrugs it off by saying, "They were fine". But when she left Ike, he was heavily into drugs at that point.

I thought her two bio kids went with her, that’s how it’s portrayed in the movie I think. Ronnie her son with Ike was 16 and Craig was 18, Ike’s two sons were 17 and 18. I mean it’s not like they were young kids or young teens.

Tina grew up rough and then spent 20 years being beaten to a bloody pulp. Then had to start again rebuilding herself a new life and fresh career at an age when music stars are considered washed up. If she can survive that without killing herself who's this loser to kill himself at 60? He couldn't get his shit together in 60 damn years? My sympathies to black women, your men are trash.

R79 Very easy to say when your not a black man. There's a lot if damaged people in black America, then add to the fact a system that is designed for black people to fail. Then add the fact that there's a lot of systemic and inequality in American society targeted at black people.

Equality is a policy Choice. When there's a bunch of racist white supremacist holding office doing everything they can to screw black people over, it can be really hard to pull yourself up.

I don't know what craigs problems were, but to generalize all black men, is disgusting.

You could absolutely say the same thing about white men. We hear more about white men committing suicide then any other group of people. Not to mention how abusive white men are. White men do not hold a moral high ground, never have and never will.

But you knew all of this already.

Lots of people have it worse than blacks in America. And we fight to live.

R80 Black men are just caught up in a victim mentality. Black women suffer the same racial obstacles but mostly manage to get it together. They hold multiple jobs, start businesses and get degrees at much higher rates that their bum men. The men rarely stick around and when they do they beat their women (check the single family and domestic violence stats). That community is basically matriarchal at this point. If anyone has cause to complain, it's the women.

And now the men are increasingly pairing with white women and then abandoning them too. Trash. Trash. Trash.

I just wanna know where she got those scrotum cheek implants.

R82 Next time nuance.