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Ike Turner’s widow is about to hit prime time.
Audrey Madison-Turner, who was married to the troubled soul legend when he died in 2007, will be featured tonight and tomorrow on “The X Factor” in the show’s “Bootcamp” episodes, The Post has learned.
Madison-Turner, who bears a passing resemblance to Tina Turner, auditioned for “The X Factor” in LA — without telling anyone beforehand who she’d been married to — and made it to the “Bootcamp” round, which kicks off tonight and continues tomorrow night.
“No one expected it when Audrey told us who she was married to — it was a huge shock with all of that music history around her,” says a show insider. “She had the crowd on their feet and Simon [Cowell] loved her — she had something to prove and with this show nothing was going to get in her way.”
Madison-Turner, who sang the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Woman” for her audition song, will be featured on both nights’ “Bootcamp” episodes — in which 150 acts will be winnowed down to only 32 acts after a pressure-cooker schedule of rehearsals and performances.
“She was determined that ‘The X Factor’ was going to be her stage, and that it was her time,” says the source, who added that “there was no specific reason” as to why Madison-Turner’s audition wasn’t shown on “The X Factor.”
The San Francisco-born singer/songwriter/choreographer married Ike Turner in 2006 and was the last of his many wives. He was reportedly married five times — most famously to Tina Turner, who revealed in her memoir, “I, Tina,” that Ike, who battled drug addiction, physically abused her (which he vehemently denied).
Their rollercoaster marriage was also dramatized in the 1993 big-screen movie, “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”
Madison-Turner met Ike through a mutual friend and they worked together for years (she was one of his backup singers) before their “professional relationship eventually segued into a romantic one,” Madison-Turner writes on her Web page.
Ike Turner, who was battling emphysema, died at the age of 76 in December 2007. His death was eventually ruled a cocaine overdose.
“Audrey used to be a backing singer for Ike so she got a taste of fame a few years ago when she toured with him,” says the source.
“After Ike died she was devastated and couldn’t sing — but then ‘The X Factor’ came along and Audrey said she wanted to get back on stage and her friends supported her.
“She really did bring it.”
“The X Factor,” which premiered two weeks ago, is hosted by Steve Jones — with judges Simon Cowell, LA Reid, Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger.