Cher reveals details from final visit to Tina Turner

A longtime friend of Tina Turner, Cher reveals she had one last visit to the singer just before her passing earlier this week. Turner passed away on May 24 at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland from natural causes.

During Thursday’s episode of MSNBC’s ‘The Beat with Ari Melber’ the ‘Believe’ singer revealed she recently paid a visit to Turner’s Swiss home because she wanted to keep their bond strong.

“I started going to visit her because I thought, ‘I need to put this time into our friendship, so she knows we haven’t forgotten her,’” she told the outlet. “So we all took turns going and spending time with her and it made her happy.”

Skeptical of visitors

Cher revealed that Turner was initially skeptical about the visit, insisting she couldn’t spend too much time around people due to her failing health. However, Cher convinced her otherwise.

“Then five hours later we were laughing like crazy … She was having a good time in spite of the fact that she was really sick and not wanting people to know about it,” Cher explained.

Despite a dialysis machine by her side in her final days, Cher explains that Turner remained “so strong” after fighting illness “for such a long time.”

“But I know, towards the end, she told me once, she said, ‘I’m really ready. I just don’t want to put up with this anymore,’” the 77-year-old singer said. “She just didn’t want to do it anymore.”

A final gift

During their last moments together, Turner gave Cher a parting gift.

“She gave me a pair of shoes the last time I saw her,” Cher revealed. “What kind of shoes? Tina Turner shoes!”

The ‘Strong Enough’ singer went on to reflect on their decades-long friendship, which began while Turner was still stuck in an abusive relationship with ex-husband Ike Turner.

“When I first knew her, she was still with Ike and that was very strange to see her with Ike and then to see her afterward,” she explained.

“I was so thrilled because, afterward, she was so free. You could just see her being able to take a big breath. Her new life was like a big, fresh breath,” Cher continued.

Yet she never let her challenges stop her, and instead dealt with “everything head-on.”

“She wasn’t about to stop. She might not have won every battle, but she fought every war. She was there fighting for all the things she believed in,” Cher said of her late pal.