Tina Turner recalls terrifying night she escaped abusive ex-husband Ike Turner

Tina Turner has opened up about the moment she risked her life to escape her abusive ex-husband, running across a US freeway in a desperate bid to get away from him.

Tina was married to the late Ike Turner between 1962 and 1978, and when she finally found the courage to leave him she realised that she had nowhere to go.

Speaking on The Jonathan Ross Show, the singing legend said: “I walked out without anything and had to make it on my own for my family and everyone so I just went back to work for myself.

Tina Turner has opened up about her terrifying escape. Copyright: [ITV]

“It was very difficult and dangerous because Ike was a violent person and at that point he was on drugs and very insecure. I had no money. I had no place to go.

“But I just took a chance, I said the way out is through the door and while he was on one of his sleeping times, I just left the hotel, went out the kitchen way and down to the freeway.

“I remember something, during that time, I didn’t measure the speed of a car and I was running across the freeway and this big truck was coming and it [beeped its horn] and it felt like it was over but I had to cross that freeway to actually get to the hotel across from where we were working.”

When Jonathan asked Tina if she’d taken her life in her hands to escape, the star replied: “Yes, yes.

Tina was married to Ike for 16 years. Copyright: [Rex]

“He kept everything. He always said: ‘When you leave, you leave like you came’.”

Opening up about what triggered her decision to finally leave, Tina continued: “It was just time to not take any more. It was constantly abusive, other things going on, there was no control, there was no freedom, it was just the same this, same this and the violence.

“You just get fed up and you say: ‘Life is not worth living if I’m going to stay in this situation’.

“I stayed there as long as I did because I was trying to help, I was trying to help him from the beginning when he told me about his life and how hard it was for him to get a career going and I promised him that I would never leave him and I actually stayed because of that promise.

Tina spoke out on The Jonathan Ross Show. Copyright: [ITV]

“But then it got to the point where it became really bad, really bad so it was time to go.”

Tina has since found love with music executive Erwin Bach, who she began dating in 1986 before marrying in 2013.

The star’s full interview will air on The Jonathan Ross Show this Saturday [28 October] on ITV.

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