Cher recalls final moments with ‘really sick’ yet ‘happy’ Tina Turner before her death aged 83

Cher has remembered how “happy” Tina Turner was in her final moments, despite being “really sick”.

Turner died “peacefully” on Wednesday 24 May in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland, after succumbing to a long illness, her representative said in a statement. She was 83.

After the news of her death, several celebrities, including fellow singers Mick Jagger, Diana Ross and Beyoncé, paid tribute to the musical icon.

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That same day, Cher appeared on MSNBC to reflect on her close friendship with the Queen of Rock’n’Roll.

“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,’” the “Believe” singer explained. “So we kind of all took turns going and spending time with her.

“It made her happy,” she continued. “And someone said, ‘When you two laugh together, it is the funniest thing that you could ever possibly want to hear’ because we both have distinct laughs.”

Recalling her first visit, Cher said Turner warned that she couldn’t spend “too much time”.

“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 said.

In recent years, Turner had suffered from declining health, having first suffered a stroke in 2013 before being diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 2016 and undergoing a kidney transplant in 2017.

“There was no other person like her. There was no other person who could come close to who she was,” Cher said.

The two famously performed duets together in the ’70s on Cher’s variety shows.

“And as a woman, she gave you lots of strength, and I’m sure she’s encouraged so many young people,” Cher added, “but she gave me lots of strength sometimes, and I gave her lots of strength too. I think we were perfect friends for each other, truthfully.”