Tina Turner will relive pain of Ike’s abuse watching new musical

Tina Turner has endorsed the choice of Kobna Holdbrook-Smith to play her violent husband Ike Turner in a new musical, despite having to relive painful memories.
However, the Proud Mary singer, 77, says seeing Kobna play Ike, the husband and musical partner who beat her and controlled her for two decades, in TINA, a new show based on her life, will bring back bad memories.
“It might be painful having to watch him on stage,’ she tells Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper. “But I know he’s being played by an actor and he can’t hurt me.”
The musical will be based on Tina’s turbulent relationship with her first husband, her decision to walk out on him and embrace her new freedom.
Tina says that after her split from Ike, who died in 2007, she never saw or spoke to him again, adding, “He was out of my life, for ever.”
As a soulful duo rose to fame on the club circuit and found chart success in 1960 with A Fool In Love. They went on to have a string of hits and their own TV show, but behind the scenes Ike was abusive towards Tina and they finally divorced in 1978.
Kobna says it’s an incredible feeling to work with a music legend, who gave his casting her blessing, on a musical about her life. “I realised I loved the music, always had, and Tina Turner’s this amazing icon,” he explains. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be involved.’
TINA begins previews at London’s Aldwych Theatre from 21 March next year (18).