VISTA: Ex-wife says Ike Turner abused drugs, beat her

Battle begins over who will inherit musician's estate

TERI FIGUEROA - tfigueroa@nctimes.com | Posted: Thursday, September 17, 2009



Audrey Madison Turner testifies in court Wednesday. (Photo by Teri Figueroa - Staff photographer)

(This story has been modified since its original posting.)

After years of being clean, Ike Turner fell back into using illegal drugs in the two years before he died in his San Marcos home, sometimes taking days-long cocaine binges, the most recent ex-wife of the musician testified in a Vista courtroom Thursday.

Audrey Madison Turner also said Ike Turner beat her up, and she painted a picture of a sometimes volatile relationship with the man whose legacy is tainted by allegations that he often beat up another famous ex-wife, Tina Turner.

Madison Turner, a singer who has drawn look- and sound-a-like comparisons to Tina Turner from music critics, spent more than three hours on the stand in her battle to have the court declare her an heir to Ike Turner's estate.

The 76-year-old music pioneer died from a cocaine overdose in his rented San Marcos home on Dec. 12, 2007.

Six days after he died, Madison Turner presented the court with a handwritten will she said Ike Turner had scrawled out in their living room two months before he died.

Ike Turner's friend, attorney James Clayton, is arguing that Ike Turner handwrote a will in 2001, leaving decisions about the estate to Clayton and one of Turner's adult children.

The singer's adult children argue their father died without a legally valid will, and thus the estate should pass to them.

There is no jury; Superior Court Judge Richard Cline will decide the case.

Thus far, no one has assembled a full accounting of Ike Turner's worth in intellectual property rights.

Madison Turner was the first to take the stand in a trial not expected to wrap up until the end of the month.

She said she started working with Ike Turner as a singer in 1993. They became a couple in 2000, she testified, and she moved into his 1,300-square-foot home in San Marcos that same year.

Madison Turner said Ike Turner had resumed his drug habit in 2005, snorting and smoking cocaine.

They married in October 2006 ---- and two months later, Ike Turner filed for divorce. After it was granted, they reconciled and soon began living together again.

Madison Turner said she and Ike Turner were in the living room of the home on the evening of Oct. 13, 2007, when he suddenly asked her to grab pen and paper so he could write up a will.

"He said I was the only one who took care of him and if anything ever happened, he wanted me to be OK," Madison Turner testified.

They went to bed, she said, but before dawn, she found him ailing in the bathroom and called 911. She said she suspected that he had used cocaine, and he was having difficulty breathing. Turner suffered from emphysema. He was rushed to the hospital.

A month later, Ike Turner purportedly handwrote a document revoking his will with Madison Turner as the beneficiary. She is arguing that the document is a fake.

On the stand, Madison Turner also described a 2001 incident in which she said Ike Turner beat her badly. She said she called his friend Clayton to come help her.

Instead, she said, Clayton showed up with a sworn affidavit stating that Ike Turner never hurt or laid a hand on her, and she said she was "intimidated" into signing it.

"I was forced to sign it under complete fear and duress," she said of the 2001 affidavit.

Madison Turner said she did not call the police to report any of the incident.

"When you are an abused person, it is hard to explain why you didn't call the police," she said.

She also said she went to jail once after a beating by Ike Turner, taking the fall for him because he had a criminal record. He had spent a stint in prison for drugs and was released in 1991.

Madison Turner said that her ex-husband had described Clayton as an "estate chaser" and said he could not be trusted.

Clayton was in the courtroom all day listening to testimony. When asked for comment at the end of the court day, he referred all questions to his attorney, Gregory Day.

"The statements she made, I believe to be false," Day said of the testimony regarding Clayton.

Day said Madison Turner is not credible, and noted that she is a convicted felon. In 2004, she had pleaded guilty to four counts related to real estate fraud.

Madison Turner, on the stand, acknowledged the conviction but said she had been the victim in the case.

Call staff writer Teri Figueroa at 760-740-5442.

bitches are dumb!

a) you marry Ike Turner?!? bitch, did you not see the movie?

b) you divorce a 75 year old cocaine addict and have no provisions for his eventual death (you could have pursued death benefits in court)

c)that blonde wig is a hot mess...and hell naw she don't look like Tina!

ps 76 year old with emphysema doing cocaine....even for Ike, this sounds made shady, especially if he "wrote" a will the night before. Sounds like someone accidentally on purpose waved the cocaine around him.

BklynBabe said:

I like you !

what a mess...

BklynBabe said:

-----
It is not nessercary to call the woman a bitch. She is not the smartest person walking around but it does not mean she deserved to be beat on either.

And if you think emphysema would stop an addict you need to put down your crack pipe .

BklynBabe said:

co-sign...

I can't believe she left the house with that shit on her head. Blonde hair on sistas = not happening.

I hope she doesn't think that blonde wig is gonna make her resemble Tina....

bboy87 said:

It's the crack making her think that way.

So,Ike Turner was abusive and used drugs? Surprise,surprise She's a fool for marrying that idiot,knowing what he put Tina through.

BklynBabe said: