Proud Tina: A Life Well Lived

Kennedy Center Honors Turner

(CBS)  She is the undisputed queen of rock and roll, a woman whose Cinderella story has inspired millions. Now, Tina Turner is one of this year's Kennedy Center honorees.

The Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith recently sat down with Turner, who says she has a lot to be proud of.

Turner has won eight Grammy Awards, sold millions of albums and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Now comes the Kennedy Center Honors.

"Well it means a lot. It's a perfect time to receive such an honor. They usually give it to us old ones," she said with a laugh.

At 66, age doesn't have anything to do with it. For Anieana Mae Bullock to become Tina Turner, it is more about destiny.

"I was always Tina somewhere in there — that actress, that person that wanted to act, that person that wanted to sing. Really, you are born with it. You are what you are and it travels through life with you. If you get the opportunities, you take them or you fight for them or you struggle to make them happen. I'm still very much myself; however, there's a difference in the personality offstage and onstage.

On stage, Turner's pure raw energy. Smith notes that during their interview, Turner is calm and serene.

"When I'm onstage, I'm acting, I'm performing. I want to give a performance for the people," Turner said. "Offstage, I see myself as a happy, friendly person — except, you know, onstage, there's a little bit of the sexy stuff and a little bit of, yeah, acting. It's all an act, but it's for the people and it's for the song and it's for the moment. But yeah, there are two people in there somewhere and I think I handle it pretty good."

From movies to mega-stages all over the world, performing was always easy for Turner, but life was not.

Former husband Ike Turner, who helped make Tina a star, also abused her.
Tina escaped and told her story to the world — first in a book, and then in a movie starring Angela Bassett and Lawrence Fishburne.

"I was very nervous about telling the story, of course, and I had reasons to be," she said. "But once I told the story, something broke like that. Something just opened up and there was another respect that the people got. Because, as Oprah said, 'I just pushed all of that stuff aside' and went ahead with performing."

Oprah Winfrey takes the stage at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony to pay tribute to Turner.

"If you have never seen Tina Turner on stage, you need to add that to the list of things you do before you die," Winfrey said. "I say to you, Tina Turner, we don't need another hero; we need more heroines like you. You make me so proud to spell my name w-o-m-e-n."

Turner is a hero to many women.

"Well, that's what they say. I'm happy it turned into that, you know?" Turner said. "At first, I wondered, 'What's happening?' I didn't know what the hoo ha was about. Then I found that I gave people hope. That basically, I said, 'You know, the way out is through the door. It's not gonna be easy once you get out the door, but you just gotta keep going.' "

After years of struggling for a comeback, Turner hit it big on her own in 1984. Her first solo album sold over 10 million copies and she didn't slow down.

Over her incredible career, what is Turner most proud of?

"Me," she said. "I reached the stage in my life where I can say that. I'm proud of what I've done. I'm proud of what I became — the person that I became — and it was hard work. There was a lot of suffering, but I don't suffer now. I'm happy and I'm always happy. I feel good all the time and, yeah, I'm proud of myself."

The 2005 Kennedy Center Honors airs Tuesday, Dec. 27 at 9 p.m. on CBS.

Hear more from Turner and fellow Kennedy Center Honors nominees Robert Redford and Tony Bennett.