Tina Turner’s former best friend has admitted she regrets having written a revealing book about the musician and has insisted she “never wanted to hurt him”.
Eddy Armani, 64, met the 81-year-old singer as a child and eventually got a job as a personal assistant, serving as a partner and confidant for nearly 20 years.
However, their relationship broke down after Tina met her second husband Erwin Bach and in 1998 Eddy wrote The Real T, a book detailing the highs and lows of Tina’s career in an attempt to “call her attention “.
Appearing today Morning from his home in west London, Eddy said that if he could go back, he would never have written the book and told him it was “exciting” to see scenes of his old friend in the new documentary HBO, Tina.
Tina Turner’s former best friend Eddy Armani, 64, has admitted he regrets writing a revealing book about the musician and has insisted he “never wanted to hurt him.”
Their relationship broke down after Tina, 81, met her second husband Erwin Bach, represented with Tina in 2018 in London.
Eddy had a fascination with Tina after seeing her on television at the age of six and established a friendship after repeatedly calling her studio and asking her to meet him.
He explained: “What I was doing was every day after school, I kept calling the studio asking to talk to Ike and Tina Turner, I was calling every day and one day a woman liked me, she invited me to the ‘study, and I went to meet Tina and I was frightened.
“In those days, Ike and Tina Turner’s audience was very mature, so everyone thought he was Ike and Tina Turner’s son.”
He added, “I wouldn’t leave anything, I met the musicians, the cleaner, the person who did anything, anything to get to Tina, I met them and became friends. I wore her out!
When Morning appeared today from his home in west London, Eddy said that if he could go back, he would never have written the book.
Eddy began working as Tina’s personal assistant in her teens, revealing that she “studied her like a bible” and that she was a “very strict” homework teacher.
He said, “I studied Tina like a bible, I went to church on a Sunday, I studied her walk, her talk and her accent, I knew Tina better than Tina knew herself sometimes.
“She was absolutely, very strict, very direct to the point that she didn’t have time and didn’t play games.” You say something to yourself three times that you’re out. ”
Eddy recalled the day she left her abusive ex-husband Ike before her divorce in 1976, claiming he was “a bad boy at gunpoint.”
In 1998 Eddy wrote The Real T, a book detailing the highs and lows of Tina’s career in an attempt to “get attention.”
He said, “At the time, he was already a teenager, he wasn’t a fool, he knew what was going on. Ike was actually a very nice charismatic man, but he was the one behind him who did all this damage.
“I was very sad, and the day Tina left Ike I was working for them in the recording studio, and we got news that Tina was missing and hell broke out.
It was the first time I was scared Ike. He was a bad kid with guns and anyone who stood in his way.
After his relationship with Tina broke down, in 1998 Eddy wrote the revealing book The Real T, a book that details the highs and lows of Tina’s career in an attempt to “get attention.”
Eddy had a fascination with Tina after seeing her on television at the age of six (pictured, Tina was performing in London)
He explained, “I knew it [her thoughts on the book] I’m still close to family members, he didn’t comment on the book or fight me. He divided us.
“If I had a choice, I wouldn’t have written the book, because I never wanted to hurt Tina or go against her.
“I was trying to get attention and I did it the wrong way, I love Tina … it’s very emotional, when I saw the documentary, I thought I was happy.”
When asked why her friendship broke up, Eddy said, “She basically met the man in her life who is now her husband and she is very happy, she and I didn’t get along well.
Eddy recalled the day she left her abusive ex-husband Ike before her divorce in 1976, claiming he was “a bad boy at gunpoint” (pictured together)
Erwin [Bach] I didn’t like it from the beginning, I was so fanatical and Tina and I were like two peas in a pod and he couldn’t stand it. ”
HBO’s new documentary, Tina, follows the resurgence of the star as a global phenomenon in the 1980s after her breakup with Ike, with Eddy acclaiming the film “fantastic.”
He said, “I’ve been waiting for him for a long time and I was a little nervous about what he was explaining and he wasn’t going to tell me. I saw him alone with my best friend, with no outside influences.