Oprah Winfrey obsessively wore Tina Turner-inspired wig to BED to ‘feel close’ to the singer

27 May 2023

Oprah Winfrey used to wear her Tina Turner-inspired wig to bed to “feel close” to her hero.

Oprah Winfrey used to wear her Tina Turner-inspired wig to bed to ‘feel close’ to her hero

The chat show queen, 69, said she was such a fan of the ‘Private Dancer’ icon – whose death aged 83 was confirmed on Wednesday (24.05.23) – she followed her on tour in her 40s wearing a huge copycat hairpiece based on one of Tina’s trademark manes.

Oprah admitted in a YouTube chat that has resurfaced since Tina’s passing about trailing the singer on her 1997 ‘Wildest Dreams’ tour, when the talk show host was aged 43: “It was the ultimate groupie story… I had a wig made so I could be a part and close to Tina in wigdom.

“And then I wouldn’t take the wig off.”

Oprah loved the wig so much she admitted she “started wearing it on the weekends” and “to bed”.

She added: “I started wearing it all times.”

It took an intervention from her long-time partner Stedman Graham, 72, before she changed the habit.

She said: “One day Stedman came and said to me, ‘I don’t know when somebody’s gonna tell you… you are not Tina Turner… it’s a problem. It’s become a problem. I think you think you’re Tina Turner.’”

Oprah also confessed she travelled to Tina’s concerts “at great expense”.

When a clip was flashed up on the YouTube clip of Oprah wearing her short, shaggy hairpiece, she said: “I did it for the show, I did it for the next show, I think we did five or six shows around the country.”

She also confessed: “Truth of the matter is I still like my Tina wig. If I had it right now I’d put it on.

“You know, I don’t feel like that was such a terrible thing to put on the Tina wig. Could I have a little happiness here? Could I just have a little moment?”

Oprah has told of the friendship she formed with Tina since her death, and told how the singer told her she was “ready to go” before she passed away.

She said on ‘CBS Mornings’ Tina “was certainly aware that she was ill”, after decades fighting illnesses including a kidney condition.

Oprah added during a 2019 trip to “visit her in the hospital” Tina had told her “she was actually ready to go, meaning, ready to leave the planet”.