Cher Details Visiting Friend Tina Turner Before Her Death Amid Her Illness

Cher is opening up about her friendship with Tina Turner and the late Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s final days before her death Wednesday at 83 years old. During a call to MSNBC’s The Beat With Ari Melber Wednesday, Cher remembered going to visit her late friend at her home in Switzerland in her later years.

“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 said. “So we all took turns going and spending time with her and it made her happy.” While the “Proud Mary” singer’s official cause of death has yet to be released, Cher referenced her friend’s in-home dialysis machine during her call, and Turner had previously undergone a kidney transplant in 2017.

“She fought this sickness for such a long time and she was so strong as you think she would be, 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,’” Cher continued. The “What’s Love Got to Do With It” singer was “really happy” despite her illness, Cher said, recalling the first time she visited her friend’s Swiss home and the two got to “laughing like crazy” for hours. “She was having a good time in spite of the fact that she was really sick and not wanting people to know about it,” the “After All” artist continued.

Cher and Turner met amid the latter’s abusive relationship with ex-husband Ike Turner, to whom she was married from 1962 to 1978. “It was very strange to see her with Ike and afterward,” Cher recalled. “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.”

“She was such a force. Honestly, I think she just hit 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…” the Moonstruck star said. “She’s one of the great artists in our generation, in rock and roll. There was no other person like her. There’s no other person who could come close to who she was.”

Turner’s rep confirmed her death Wednesday, sharing publicly that she had died peacefully at home in Küsnacht, Switzerland after a long illness. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner. With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow,” a statement posted to Turner’s Instagram page read. “Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly.”