Cher details spending time with Tina Turner during long illness

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — Cher is remembering her friend Tina Turner as being happy, but also over being sick.

The legendary singer called into “The Beat With Ari Melber” and shared her memories of Turner, who died on Wednesday at the age of 83 after a “long illness,” her family said.

“She fought this sickness for such a long time and she was so strong as you think she would be,” Cher said. “But I know towards the end, she told me once, she said, ‘I’m really ready. I just don’t want to put up with this anymore,’” Cher said.

While not identifying what ailed Turner, Cher talked about Turner having a dialysis machine in her house when she visited her. Dialysis is a treatment used for those in late stage kidney disease.

According to Cher, Turner reveled in the visits from her friends.

“I started going to visit her because I thought, ‘I need to put this time into our friendship, so she knows we haven’t forgotten her,’” Cher recalled. “So, we all took turns going and spending time with her and it made her happy.”

The pair laughed so much, Cher said, that someone commented, “when you two laugh together it is the funniest thing that you can ever possibly want to hear because we both have such distinct laughs.”

Cher said she had known Turner since the latter was married to Ike Turner.

The last time she visited Turner at her Switzerland home, Cher said she left with a special gift.

“She gave me a pair of shoes the last time I saw her,” Cher sad. “What kind of shoes? Tina Turner shoes!”

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