Tina Turner Spreads Son Craig’s Ashes in Heartbreaking Final Goodbye

Tina Turner said her “final goodbye” to her oldest son, Craig Turner, after he died by suicide earlier by this month.

The 78-year-old singer shared a photo to social media Friday taken after she spread Craig’s ashes from a boat in the ocean on Thursday. She called it her “saddest moment as a mother.”

“My saddest moment as a mother. On Thursday, July 19 2018, I said my final goodbye to my son, Craig Raymond Turner, when I gathered with family and friends to scatter his ashes off the coast of California. He was fifty-nine when he died so tragically, but he will always be my baby,” she wrote.

In the photo, she stands close to her German record-executive husband Erwin Bach while holding a rose over the railing of a large boat.

Many of Turner’s social media followers left sympathetic comments on the Instagram post.

“Praying for you Tina,” one person wrote on Instagram.

“Our thoughts are with you. Sending U love and strength. So sorry for your loss,” someone else said.

“Sending love and light to you and your family,Tina,” another person said.

Tina had Craig when she was just 18 years old. His biological father was saxophonist Raymond Hill, who performed with Ike Turner’s band Kings of Rhythm. Craig was adopted by Ike after he and Tina married in 1962.

As previously reported, Craig was found by police in his home in Studio City, California with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 59.

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner confirmed to PEOPLE that Craig was found dead on July 3. Craig worked as a real estate agent in California, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Tina Turner has lived in Europe since 1995 with Bach. She relinquished her American citizenship in 2013.

She has been open about abuse she suffered at the hands of Craig Turner’s adoptive father, Ike Turner, who died in 2007 from a cocaine overdose in conjunction with other health problems. In 2005, Tina told Oprah Winfrey that Ike’s abuse took a toll on Craig, who “was a very emotional kid.”

“He’d always look down in sadness,” she said of her son’s response to her abuse. “One day when Ike was fighting me, Craig knocked on the door and said, ‘Mother, are you all right?’ I thought, ‘Oh, please, don’t beat me at home.’ I didn’t want my children to hear.”

Turner is back in the headlines these days with a biological musical playing in London’s West End titled Tina: The Musical that focuses primarily on her flight from Ike’s home and her subsequent fight to gain legitimacy as a solo performer.