“The Woman Is Just Strength” | Tina Turner’s Backing Singer Pays Tribute To Her “Guardian Angel” Who Rescued Her

Trigger Warning: This article contains details of domestic abuse that may be distressing to readers.

Tina Turner was a source of strength and inspiration to one of her Ikette backing singers, PP Arnold. The What's Love Got to Do With It singer had endured abuse at the hands of her first husband Ike Turner. Her 2018 memoir My Love Story revealed startling information about their relationship. “He threw hot coffee in my face, giving me third-degree burns,” the book stated, per USA Today. “He used my nose as a punching bag so many times that I could taste blood running down my throat when I sang. He broke my jaw. And I couldn’t remember what it was like not to have a black eye.” Even Ike confessed in his autobiography, Takin’ Back My Name: The Confessions of Ike Turner (1999), that they hit each other.

PP Arnold now 76, became one of the trio of Ikettes at the age of just 17. She recalled the abuse telling PEOPLE, "I saw her face swollen with a black eye before we go on stage. I have seen her change her clothes, do her makeup, and go on stage and do that show. You see lots of photos from that time — of her in the big glasses and what they were hiding." The legendary singer coped with it because "the woman is just strength. Even at the thought of it, I have goose-pimples going down my arms right now. Tina is such a strong inspiration of how you survive that kind of adversity and then turn around and manifest divinity in this life."

Arnold remembers how she garnered the strength to leave her own abusive relationship drawing inspiration from Turner.  "She had been with Ike since 1957. I was 17 and in an abusive relationship and two years was enough for me. But it took Tina all those years because she was connected with Ike through the children, through the music, the promise she had made him." The singer said she was able to escape her own situation and toured with Turner for two years. According to Arnold, she "turned my life around. But you never saw her down, down because she covered it up. She was so positive, and her head was always held high. I loved her and she was my guardian angel. She rescued me."

Through the music icon, she also learned that true love was possible after a traumatic, abusive relationship. Turner later met her true love Erwin Bach and the couple tied the knot on July 4, 2013. He even saved her life by donating a kidney to her as she battled a health crisis in 2017.  "She found the love of her life who was there for her. He supported her and was someone who could be with her. That's really hard finding someone who understands a woman being in the business ... to find that kind of love and happiness. She deserved every happiness and accolade. She deserved it all," Arnold shared. "None of us are here to live forever. I believe Tina embraced death in the same way as she embraced life. And her star is still shining bright."

References:

https://people.com/tina-turner-backing-singer-pp-arnold-shares-memories-guardian-angel-7505086

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2018/10/16/five-shocking-revelations-tina-turners-memoir-my-love-story-suicide-attempt-kidney-transplant-stroke/1614153002/

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Kevin Winter