In a revelation that has reignited both admiration and heartbreak, it has now come to wider public attention that Tina Turner — the indomitable Queen of Rock — officially renounced her U.S. citizenship in 2013, at the age of 73, years before her passing in 2023.
Though the fact was legally recorded at the time, many fans around the world were unaware of the decision or the deeply personal meaning behind it. Turner, who had relocated to Switzerland with her longtime partner (and later husband) Erwin Bach, cited a desire for peace, privacy, and emotional rebirth. In her own words, later revealed in a handwritten note to a close friend, she stated:
“I have not given up on America. I have simply chosen to belong fully to the place that gave me peace. Switzerland is not a retreat — it is where I found myself again. I am forever in serenity here.”
This message, now published for the first time, has touched hearts across continents. Many see it not as a rejection of her roots, but as a personal evolution — a final declaration of identity from a woman who had spent decades surviving the shadows of fame, trauma, and reinvention.
Born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, Tina Turner rose to global fame in the 1960s and ’70s with unmatched fire. She survived a tumultuous and abusive marriage, reinvented herself as a solo artist in her 40s, and defied the industry’s expectations for age, gender, and race. Her legacy was not just musical — it was transformational.
In Switzerland, she was not “Tina the Icon,” but simply Tina — a woman who walked the lakeside trails of Küsnacht, gardened quietly, and greeted locals with warmth. In her final years, she became a Swiss citizen, fluent in German and deeply integrated into the community.
Her renunciation of American citizenship was formal, but not bitter. Friends say it was a symbolic release — an act of closing a door she had long kept ajar. “It was her way of breathing,” said Erwin Bach in a past interview.
Now, as the world continues to grieve her loss, this final truth about her citizenship underscores a deeper message: that belonging is not always defined by borders, but by where a soul finds its home.