Tina Turner's friend shares memories, fear of Ike

Tina Turner’s former assistant of 22 years, Eddy Hampton Armani, is recalling the late rock legend, telling People magazine that while the two had not spoken in 30 years, "My love for her never stopped."

In an interview posted Tuesday, Armani, who wrote the 1998 memoir “The Real T,” told the magazine, "I get emotional thinking about it because I know Tina is gone,” having died May 24 at age 83 at her estate in Küsnacht, Switzerland. “You can love someone and don't have to speak to them every day. I made this woman a part of my life and will cherish it. She will always be in my thoughts and memories," he said, adding, "I'll tell you something: I never stopped loving her, and I never will."

As a child, Armani had become enchanted with Turner and at 13 headed her official fan club before going on to become her personal assistant and confidant. "When I was told Tina died, I froze and went numb. I did not shed a tear," he recalled. "I haven't let it sink in because I was in denial. I screamed in the most horrendous voice, ‘No, no, no, no!’ … I know when it finally hits me, it will hurt like a ton of bricks.”

Among his memories were Turner’s home being set on fire twice, and a shotgun blowing out windows of her home and car. Armani and Turner suspected that her controlling ex-husband, Ike Turner, whom she divorced in 1978, was involved. "We were always on high alert and slept on the floor,” he said, including her children. “We were all terrified. This man haunted us.”

In a poignant memory, Armani recalled that in December 1982, before her career comeback, Turner phoned him asking for “some help” in decorating her home for Christmas and preparing a holiday meal for her sons. He did so, but then on Christmas night she called him again to say no one had come to her dinner.

He went to help comfort Turner, who had son Craig with Kings of Rhythm saxophonist Raymond Hill; Ike’s sons Ike Jr. and Michael, whom she adopted; and Ronnie, her son with Ike. "Tina wasn't a crybaby. She never cried in front of people. But you could feel her pain when they didn't show up or tell her. It really hurt her. I remember her saying, ‘I guess I wasn't a good mother.’ ”

"It was hard for Tina because she didn't grow up with love around her. Ike was horrible,” he noted. “But Tina did try.”

Eight-time Grammy Award winner Tina Turner was inducted twice into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: in 1991 with Ike Turner and in 2021 as a solo artist.