'MY MARRIAGE ALMOST DESTROYED ME - BUT I WENT ON'

FROM HEARTBREAK TO HAPPINESS, THE ICON'S LIFE WAS BESET BY ABUSE AND LOSS BUT SHE FINALLY GOT THE HAPPY ENDING SHE DESERVED

- ALISON GRAVES

For Tina, reaching superstar status came with unthinkable setbacks. Her life was marred with deep tragedy and although she overcame countless heartbreaking obstacles and a painful past, they undoubtedly moulded her into the powerhouse the world grew to know and love.

Speaking about her troubles, loves and losses, she recalled in her documentary Tina that her life “wasn’t a good life. The good did not balance the bad”.

Her home life was emotionally difficult from a young age with Tina missing out on the fundamental basics of love and affection. She had a turbulent and difficult relationship with her mother, Zelma. Never believing in the singer’s star power or ability to be successful in her career, she made her daughter feel unwanted, right through to adulthood.

“She never believed in me,” Tina told Oprah Winfrey during a Super Soul podcast in 2018. “She never wanted this child and when this child grew up to be successful and creative, she didn’t accept it because it was something she didn’t want.”

Tina considered that envy might have had a part to play. “Is there such a thing as a mother’s jealousy? I don’t know. Obviously that must’ve been the case because it never went away.”

It grated on Tina that her mother would never credit her with paving her own successful path, believing that her grit and hard work was actually down to Tina’s first husband. “When I was with Ike she thought it was him. It was Ma’s sickness. She would say, ‘You’re my daughter. I know you didn’t do it.’ She didn’t see that I had any kind of creativity.”