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Tina Turner‘s oldest son, Craig Turner, has died by suicide, PEOPLE confirms. He was 59. Time

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Less than a month after losing her firstborn son to an apparent suicide, Tina Turner revealed Friday that she'd scattered his ashes in the Pacific Ocean.

The singer's official Twitter account posted a photo of her dropping a rose off the bow of a boat. The caption read, "My saddest moment as a mother. On Thursday, July 19, 2018, I said my final goodbye to my son, Craig Raymond Turner, when I gathered with family and friends to scatter his ashes off the coast of California. He was fifty-nine when he died so tragically, but he will always be my baby."

In the photo, Turner, 78, is comforted by her longtime partner and husband of five years, German record executive Erwin Bach.

Craig was found dead in his Los Angeles-area home on July 3. The county coroner's office told USA TODAY that the preliminary cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

His father was Kings of Rhythm saxophonist Raymond Hill, but he was adopted as a child by Turner's first husband, Ike Turner, whom she married in 1962. Craig was part of a blended family that included two stepbrothers and one half-brother, Ronald, now 57.

In a 2005 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Turner described Craig as "a very emotional kid" who supported her during her abusive marriage to Ike, which ended in 1978. Her sons were teenagers at the time.

"Before you can really help them, you have to strengthen yourself," Turner said.

The Grammy winner and Kennedy Center Honors recipient, who relinquished her American citizenship in 2013, has resided in Switzerland for the past two decades.

Contributing: Andrea Mandell and Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY

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