. ♪ better than all the rest ♪ >> reporter: ike turner, her husband and co-star on hits like "proud marylife for so many years, but behind that shiny facade was ike's temper and horrific pattern of abuse. >> ike could be having a good time and everybody having a good time, and it could just flip in a second. >> he sent her to the emergency room multiple times for black eyes, for bloody noses. >> he had to know where she was at all the time. she was on allowance. she didn't have her own money. >> reporter: she finally left ike, depicted in the film "what's love got to do with it", starring angela bassett. >> the fact that she left with literally 36 cents in her pocket, and, as she says, a gas charge card. >> but if you will give me a room, i swear i will pay you back. >> reporter: in 1978, the divorce left her with only one asset. >> i got nothing. no money, no house. so i said, i'll just take my name. >> reporter: with a stalled career and now middle aged, tina struggled to reinvent herself as a black female rock star. superstardom was far from certain. ♪ what's love got to do ♪ >> repor

and from there the duo ike and tina turner was born. >> i was young, naive. just a country girl. tina was the shining star. ♪ >> when i was a teenager back in the '60s, i knew of their record that they had out. but i had never seen them. and then they came on tv. and i saw her dancing. and that's all i could look at. >> reporter: at the center of her life, for so many years, was her controlling husband. ike. but behind that shiny facade, there was ike's temper and horrific pattern of abuse. >> ike could be having a good time and everybody was having a good time, and it could just flip in a second. >> he sent her to the emergency room multiple times for black eyes, for bloody noses. >> he had to know where she was at all the time. she was on allowance, she didn't have her own money. >> reporter: she finally left ike, depicted here in the film "what's love got to do with it" starring angela bassett. >> the fact that she left with literally 36 cents in her pocket, and as she says, a gas charge card. >> but if you will give me a room, i swear i will pay you back. >> reporter: in 1978