IKE TURNER - TURNER WIDOW BEGS TINA FOR FORGIVENESS

The widow of late star IKE TURNER has begged his first wife TINA to forgive him - because he "helped" her during their marriage. Rocker Ike died at his San Marcos, California home, on Wednesday (12Dec07), aged 76, but Tina refused to pay tribute to the star. The What's Love Got to Do with It? singer was married to Turner for 18 years, but the union was largely an unhappy one as a result of the Proud Mary hitmaker's cocaine addiction and physical abuse. The couple divorced in 1976, with Tina's representative insisting earlier this week (ends14Dec07) the singer had no contact with Ike for 35 years. But Ike's widow Jeanette Turner hopes Tina can now forgive her former partner, who she brands "a good human being". She says, "I know that she was hurt. But there's something called forgiveness and I know Ike really forgave himself, which is really hard to do. "I'm not defending what he did. I'm not saying he didn't do what he did when he was with Tina or me. But he was a human being. And being all of that, he's still a child-like person- pure and a good person always willing to help people. He was a human being and he helped Tina... he helped a lot of people."