Tina Turner's cause of death has been confirmed, according to reports. The music legend died aged 83 on Wednesday, May 24, at her home in Switzerland, prompting a flood of tributes from entertainment stars and fans.
In the years since she retired from touring in 2009, Tina had suffered from cancer, a stroke and kidney failure. And now her representative has said that she died from natural causes, MailOnline reports.
Tina's husband Erwin Bach donated a kidney to her in 2017 in a bid to treat her chronic kidney failure, which she called a "silent killer" not long before her death. Tina admitted she had turned to homeopathic cures for her high blood pressure, which put her at risk of further kidney damage.
"My kidneys are victims of me denying the fact that my hypertension needed therapy with conventional medicine," Tina said as part of the Show Your Kidneys Love campaign. "I put myself at great danger by refusing to accept the reality that I required daily medication for the rest of my life. I considered my body an invulnerable and indestructible bastion for way too long.
"I have been suffering from hypertension for a long time, got diagnosed in 1978, but didn’t care much about it. I can’t remember ever getting an explanation about what high blood pressure means or how it affects the body. I considered high blood pressure my normal. Hence, I didn’t really try to control it."
She added: "After suffering a stroke in 2009 because of my poorly controlled hypertension I struggled to get back up on my feet. This is when I first learned that my kidneys didn’t work that well anymore. They had already lost thirty-five percent of their function.
"I continued to be on prescriptions for controlling my hypertension. But I was convinced that they made me feel even worse. With time I developed a fatal dislike of these pills. I remembered relishing life before I started taking them and wished I could be as clear headed and energetic as I used to be. When a friend suggested a different approach and recommended a homeopathic doctor in France, I didn’t hesitate."
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Tina continued: "I had not told my doctors about my experiment, and when my next routine check-up was due, I was excited to see if the homeopathic medication had decreased my blood pressure and improved my kidney function. Rarely in my life had I been so wrong. I had not known that uncontrolled hypertension would worsen my renal disease and that I would kill my kidneys by giving up on controlling my blood pressure.
"I never would have replaced my medication by the homeopathic alternatives if I had had an idea how much was at stake for me. Thanks to my naivety I had ended up at the point where it was about life or death."
In a career spanning more than 60 years, the American-Swiss singer, who was born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, had hits such as Proud Mary and The Best, won eight competitive Grammy Awards and was given a star on both the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the St Louis Walk of Fame. Stars including Sir Mick Jagger, Gloria Gaynor and Cher have been among those paying tribute to Turner, widely referred to as the Queen of Rock and Roll.
