Despite her massive success as an ’80s pop chart-topper, Bonnie Tyler hid a lifetime of health woes and heartbreak, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The Total Eclipse of the Heart singer died July 8 in a Portuguese hospital with the vague explanation of an “illness that she was being treated for,” but had insisted she felt “fit enough” to perform and was doing daily Pilates exercises just months before being hospitalized.
“I’m fit enough at the moment, touch wood, and I’m really enjoying doing the shows,” Tyler, 75, said in March. “I’m still rocking on that stage with my wonderful band, and if you’ve got your health, you’ve got everything.”
But the singer failed to mention she had a long history of health woes, fertility failures and career mistakes that plagued her to the grave.
As far back as 1977, she underwent surgery on her vocal cords. Frustrated with her recovery, she let out a scream in anger, which led to permanent damage – but also to the raspy tone in her voice that became her signature.
She rolled up several hits in the late ’70s and early ’80s, including ‘It’s a Heartache,’ which mirrored the greatest frustration in her personal life – not being able to have a baby.
She had deliberately put off starting a family to focus on her career, but suffered a miscarriage at age 39, and she and her husband, property developer Robert Sullivan, remained childless until the end of her days.
“We put it off and put it off until I was 39 and he was 41. I suddenly felt maternal then, so it just felt like the right time,” she said. “I miscarried, which was bloody awful.”
She also suffered a professional misstep when she turned down the chance to record the theme for the 1983 James Bond thriller ‘Never Say Never Again.’
“My God, I was so excited when they asked me, but then I heard the song, and I didn’t believe in it,” she explained.
Tyler added: “So, please, if anybody’s reading this, I wish they’d ask me again because I want a Bond song.”
Sadly, the singing superstar never had the opportunity to fulfill her wish.
Tyler was put in an induced coma on May 6 after suffering a perforated intestine and later suffered cardiac arrest.
She woke up on June 15, but was described as “very unwell,” and died less than a month later.