The world has been grieving the passing of icon Tina Turner who died "peacefully" at her home in Kusnacht near Zurich in Switzerland on Wednesday, 24 March, at the age of 83.
The tragic news came nearly twenty years after the singer left the United States and moved to Switzerland, where she lived with German record producer Erwin Bach.
Erwin was Turner's second husband, and the pair had been impossibly in love since meeting 38 years earlier after he was tasked with picking her up from Dusseldorf airport, Germany, in 1985.
After her abusive first marriage, Tina indeed rediscovered her happiness with Erwin, who donated his kidney to her as she battled health problems years earlier.
This comes as no surprise, as he has been by her side through thick and thin since they first felt an instant connection during their initial meeting.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey on Oprah's Next Chapter in August 2013, Tina spoke of the moment, saying: "I really needed love. I just needed to love a person."
Speaking of laying eyes on him for the first time, she added: "He was another kind of handsome. Great eyes. So I got in the car with Erwin and my heart was bu-bum, already. My hands were wet, and I thought, 'Oh, my God. This is love at first sight.'"
In the same interview, Tina also explained why she rejected Erwin's first marriage proposal.
"I didn't believe him," she admitted. "But I didn't want to say no because I wanted to continue the relationship."
Erwin stuck by her side, and when he proposed to her again years later, she gleefully accepted.
The pair married in 2013 after 27 years together as they tied the knot at their home in Lake Zurich in Kusnacht, Switzerland. The same year, Tina officially relinquished her U.S. citizenship and moved to Switzerland.
At the time, E.T Online revealed that Tina walked down the aisle as her former collaborator Bryan Adams performed "All For Love" while celebrity guests such as David Bowie and Sade watched on.
In an ultimate show of love, Tina revealed in her 2018 memoir My Love Story that Erwin donated his kidney to her after she suffered a stroke just three months after their marriage, while high blood pressure caused massive kidney problems. She had her kidney transplant in 2017.
In her book, the Proud Mary singer admitted: "I've been on such a wild roller-coaster in the four years since my wedding that even I have difficulty keeping my medical catastrophes straight."
And just two years earlier, Tina described Erwin as her "soul mate".
"Some of the happiest moments in my life were the birth of my beautiful baby boys, Craig and Ronnie, and marrying my partner and soul mate, Erwin Bach," she said.
