After initially rising to fame for his role in recording the song “Rocket 88”, Ike Turner truly became a superstar after he began performing with his wife at the time, Tina Turner. An extremely successful duo, Ike and Tina Turner recorded a lot of great songs together but tragically, their union will never be best remembered for that. The reason for that is simple, Ike and Tina Turner’s marriage was defined by the abuse she suffered at his hand.
After the world learned the truth about how Ike Turner treated Tina throughout their marriage, he became disgraced for good reason, and remained this way until her recent passing at the age of 83, on May 24th, 2023.
Since Ike Turner’s legacy was forever tarnished, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he wasn’t anywhere close to being one of the celebrities who left behind the largest estates when they passed away. Still, Ike did have an estate that was worth a decent amount of money and to the surprise of many, his wives didn’t receive a penny of his money for fascinating reasons.
Who Were Ike Turner’s Wives?
When people think about Ike Turner’s wife, there is one name that comes to mind first and foremost, Tina. Of course, that makes perfect sense since none of Ike’s other wives were famous and he recorded a lot of music with Tina. Married from 1962 until 1978, Ike and Tina’s marriage ended when she courageously walked away from the man who abused her for years. Given the violent nature of their marriage, it is amazing that after Ike passed away, Tina spoke about forgiving her former tormenter.
On top of being married to Tina Turner for many years, Ike Turner walked down the aisle several other times. In fact, at one time in the past, Ike claimed that he’d been married a total of fourteen times which is an absolutely mind-blowing fact if that is the truth.
Given the fact that Ike Turner claimed to have been married so many times during his life, it should go without saying that isn’t enough room to summarize each of those relationships here. Suffice it to say, it seems very clear that there are loads of women who arguably could have come forward to try and get a piece of Ike’s estate when he met his demise.
Why Ike Turner’s Wives Didn’t Get A Penny Of His Estate When He Passed Away
By the time Ike Turner passed away, it had been decades since he was at the zenith of his career. On top of that, Ike had gotten divorced several times and everybody knows that process can be extremely expensive. With all of that in mind, it likely won’t surprise anyone that Ike wasn’t a millionaire when he took his last breath. Still, according to celebritynetworth.com, Ike left behind a $500,000 estate and most people would love to get their hands on that kind of money.
Sadly, there are far too many families that have been ripped apart after fighting over estates that were worth a lot less money than Ike Turner left behind. On the bright side, it doesn’t seem like that happened when Ike met his demise. However, that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a battle over Ike Turner’s estate. Instead, Ike’s kids wound up battling Turner’s most recent ex-wife and an attorney in court over his estate but the three parties don’t seem to have been close, to begin with.
After he passed away in 2007, Superior Court Judge Richard Cline tentatively ruled that Ike Turner's children would share the famous performer’s estate in late-2009. While that ruling was tentative at the time, the case was never updated which therefore makes it all but certain that Turner’s kids were awarded his estate in the end. According to the ruling, the reason Ike’s kids got his estate is that he didn’t have a valid will at the time of his passing.
Before the aforementioned trial came to an end, Ike Turner’s most recent ex-wife Audrey Madison Turner is the one who got the lawsuit going in the first place. According to Audrey’s court filing, she deserved to get Ike’s estate because he presented her with a handwritten will that called for her to get everything. Following that, Ike’s longtime friend and sometimes attorney James Clayton injected himself into the proceedings claiming he also had a will Ike handwrote which left everything to him.
According to Superior Court Judge Richard Cline, the will that Ike Turner’s friend James Clayton presented in court was valid. However, the will that Ike’s ex-wife Audrey Madison Turner presented in court was written after Clayton’s thus nullifying his. As for Audrey’s will, Ike wrote a document nullifying it a month after he gave it to his ex-wife so it wasn’t valid anymore as a result. With both of Ike’s once valid wills nullified, his estate went to his natural heirs, his kids.