Tina Turner at 80: “It’s Not What Happens, It’s How You Deal With It”
(Tina turner in 1986 [left] and Tina Turner in 2016 [right])
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Tina has been a legendary performer since the early 60s, but her second taste of the big time began in 1985, with the multi-million selling album, Private Dancer. Tina was already 47 by then, an age when many rock stars are looking to slow down. However, the sexy star has always thought age was irrelevant.
“A 50-year-old woman is equivalent to 40 when I was growing up,” she insists. “If you take care of yourself, 60 is nothing for women these days. In today’s world, you can be the kind of woman you want to be.”
(Photo credit: Pinterest.com)
Tina Turner seems to just get better and better with age – a phenomenon the singer believes is down to a combination of great style, health and attitude.
Tina’s positive attitude doesn’t mean she hasn’t seen change in the past 25 years. She’s just able to put things into perspective.
“Of course, I’ve aged a bit in the face,” she says, “but not enough to worry about it. I’ve got common sense enough to know that something has to give.”
A few tiny wrinkles may be there, but Tina’s body weight has remained remarkably stable.
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“I’m an American size 10, which I think in the UK is 14 – that has remained constant,” explains Turner. “The older you get, the more your realize it’s not what happens, it’s how you deal with it.
Tina says she manages her weight by not eating after 6pm, drinking lots of water and, of course, dancing. If she needs to really get into shape for a tour, she has been known to resort to a bit of dieting. Back in 2000, for the Twenty Four Seven tour, Tina tried the cabbage soup diet, but didn’t enjoy it. For this tour she’s opted for a more moderate regime.
“I don’t abuse myself with sweets, sugars, cakes and fat. I eat healthily. The pleasure of life is dinner.”
Luckily for Tina, her natural preference is for good healthy food. Rather than the fatty fried-food of her childhood in the southern United States, Tina enjoys lighter options. She prefers to eat a combination of Thai and Italian food most of the time – although she limits high-carb pasta to “twice a week only.”
“I eat a breakfast of banana, kiwi and melon, and brown German bread.”
