Tina Turner's 4 Children: All About Craig, Ike Jr., Michael and Ronnie

Mar. 15, 2025

International superstar, singer and mother of four,Tina Turner, a.k.a. the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll, first became a mom at the age of 18.

Tina also adopted Ike’s two sons, Ike Jr. and Michael, from his previous relationship with Lorraine Taylor. The “Proud Mary” singer and Ike welcomed their first and only child together, son Ronnie Turner, in October 1960.

In her 2018 memoirMy Love Story: Tina Turner, the mom-of-fouropened up about her ex-husband’s “brutality"and admitted that the children heard their “endless fighting.”

Still, in 1997, the actress toldLarry KingonLarry King Live, “I’ve gotta say they were good kids,” adding that, despite her difficult marriage with Ike, they were doing well as adults.

The 2021 HBO documentaryTinaincluded an interview with Craig from 2000. “She really took to raising us personally because basically that was her happiness to a certain extent,” he said.

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Here is everything to know about Tina Turner’s four children: Craig, Ike Jr., Michael and Ronnie.

Craig Raymond Turner

Craig Turner/Facebook

In 2005, Tina toldO, The Oprah Magazinethat Craig was a “very emotional kid” who reacted morosely to his parents’abusive marriage. “He’d always look down in sadness,” she toldOprah Winfreyof her son.

By the time Tina left Ike in 1976, Craig had already graduated from high school. In 2018, Tina shared onOprah’sSuper Soulthat her oldest child served in the Navy and later became a real estate agent.

The singer told BBC News in October 2018, “I still don’t know whattook him to the edge.” She noted that Craig, who lived in Los Angeles, had recently started a new job in real estate and had a new girlfriend that he planned to introduce to his mother. “At that stage, he had said to me that he had never met a woman that he felt that way about,” Tina said.

She later toldGayle Kingthat she believed solitude played a role in her son’s death. “I think Craig was lonely, that’s what I think really got him more than anything else,” she said.

After his death, Tina tried to focus on the good parts of Craig’s life. “I have pictures all around of him smiling, and I think I’m sensing that he’s in a good place,” she said to King.

Tina echoed that sentiment while speaking to Winfrey. “I want to bring out the good parts and parts that he enjoyed in the life,” she shared.

Ike Turner Jr.

Bob Riha, Jr./Getty

Ike Jr. told theMailthat his father took him out of school at 13 to tour with him. “I ended up running his recording studio, plus going on the road with them,” he said.

He briefly worked as Tina’s sound engineer following her split from Ike Sr., who wanted his son and ex to put an end to their professional relationship. “When my mother and father separated, he did not want me working with her — and he beat me in the head with a nickel-plated .45 pistol,” Ike Jr. alleged.

By 1985, he had fallen out of touch with Tina. “I know she’s busy, but I don’t know why she hasn’t called. I love her, she brought me up, she’s my mother,” he toldSpinthat year. “It kind of feels like she’s neglecting us, at least us three, me, Michael and Ronnie.”

In 2018, Ike Jr. said he hadn’t spoken to Tina in over a decade. “I haven’t talked to my mother since God knows when — probably around 2000,” he told theMail. “My mother is living her life — she has a new husband and she’s in Europe. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with the past.”

Ike Jr. plays in a tribute band called The Love Thang; they released the song “Yes To Life” with singer Sweet Randi Love in 2022. “All I try to do is do the right thing with the name,” he told theMail. “I go out there and do my best.”

In May 2023, Ike Jr. was arrested andcharged with crack cocaine possessionand tampering with evidence. He was sentenced to jail 18 days before Tina died. According to Capt. Q.T. Arendell of the Alvin Police Dept., Ike Jr. was pulled over for an equipment violation and then “tried to eat the drugs before the officers could seize them.”

Michael Turner

Courtesy of Rhonda Graam/HBO

Michael also reportedly dealt with addiction as an adult. “I know in my heart if I called Tina or my father, Ike, right now they would come and help me but I just can’t do it,” he reportedly told theSunday Mercury. “Tina was really good to me and I love her but I can’t live with anybody. I gotta be free to do what I want to do.”

He also gave an update on his sibling to theMail on Sundayin 2018. “Michael is in a convalescent home in Southern California and needs medical support,” he shared. “I’ve been to see him quite a few times. He’s doing great.”

Ike Jr. noted that his mother had not visited Michael, but she did support him financially.

Ronald “Ronnie” Turner

Axel Koester/Corbis/Getty

Tina and Ike Sr. welcomed Ronnie Turner, their only son together, in L.A. on Oct. 27, 1960.

By 1997, Tina told Larry King that her kids were doing much better. “There were a few problems with drugs with the youngest [son, Ronnie],” she said. “They’re [doing] fine.”

Globe Photos/ZUMAPRESS.com

On the career front, Ronnie followed in his parents' musical footsteps, playing bass in a group called the Manufactured Funk. He also had a cameo in his parents' 1993 biopicWhat’s Love Got to Do with It.

He died ofcolon canceron Dec. 8, 2022, at the age of 62. One day later, Tina shared a tribute to her youngest son on Instagram. “Ronnie, you left the world far too early,” she wrote. “In sorrow I close my eyes and think of you. My beloved son.”

Afida also shared atributeto her late husband, writing that Ronnie was “a true angel, huge soul” and her “best friend.”

In July 2023, Afida opened upabout her griefafter Ronnie and Tina’s deaths. “I’m still very depressed and thinking about very bad, dark, bad stuff,” she told PEOPLE.

source: people.com