Cher wasn’t kidding when she sang “Love Hurts.”
The singer rose to fame alongside Sonny Bono in the ’60s as the pop duo Sonny & Cher, but their split was as acrimonious as could be, with Cher claiming that Bono had taken all her money.
“I’m still a little angry in a way,” Cher said in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment Cher: The Memoirs, Part One, which is out now.
While America fell in love with the couple’s songs, style and sarcastic banter, their romance – which began in 1962 – fell apart behind the scenes. When Cher legally separated from Sonny in 1974, she was stunned to learn that she had no money of her own. Bono, who controlled their business dealings and finances, had founded a company, Cher Enterprises, which he owned. It also made Cher his employee. She was under contract with him. Their divorce was a battle royale, with Cher citing “involuntary servitude” as the reason for their split.
Cher’s entertainment career began with her collaboration with Sonny Bono, whom she met in 1962. Bono, 11 years older, managed their careers and finances. (Jan Olofsson/Redferns)
“One question I asked him more than once was, ‘When did you think it was okay to take my money?’” Cher recalls. “He said, ‘I always knew you would go.'”
The couple met when she was 16 (claiming to be 18) and he was a 27-year-old divorced man and moving in together. His talents as a songwriter (“I Got You Babe,” “The Beat Goes On”) combined with her voice and fashion sense made them superstars.
But Cher wrote that Bono became controlling (overseeing all their business dealings), moody (prescription drug abuse), jealous (her tennis clothes burned after she said hello while passing a few men after a lesson) and unfaithful (also with ‘whores in our class’). at home”). She felt lonely, overworked and as if she were in a loveless marriage. Before she decided to leave him in October 1972, she had suicidal thoughts on a hotel balcony, which was a wake-up call.
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, which aired from 1971 to 1974, made the couple huge stars. (Martin Mills/Getty Images)
Being Sonny and Cher, breaking off their relationship became complicated. They initially hid their split from the public and continued to star The Sonny & Cher comedy hour and living together. Although Bono took away her earnings and called her an “unfit mother” during a custody battle over Chaz, they later had another TV show (The Sonny & Cher Show) and toured together again. She would also ask him for advice. (Cher memorably praised Bono at his funeral in 1998.)
“Nothing can break the bond,” Cher said. “Like I said to someone, if he walked into my house right now, we would be Sonny & Cher.”
Although marriage and a business partnership were not for them, they loved to perform.
“You know what: that was our happiest time together,” she said of the onstage performance. “We were equal. The other times we weren’t.”
Cher told Yahoo Entertainment that the only time she felt equal to Bono was when they were on stage together. (CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)
Even right after she left him in 1972, they showed up on set that week and had chemistry as a performing couple.
“It’s hard to explain to people, but what we did on TV was real,” she said. “Two days after I left him – and he was very upset – we went on one Sonja & Cher episode and we were hysterical. We were so funny.”
She added, “We were always just… something more than the sum of our parts.”
And they shared a sense of humor that only they sometimes understood.
In her memoir, Cher details their 1972 breakup, calling it the darkest moment of their marriage. How – instead of ending her life on the balcony of the Sahara hotel in Las Vegas – she ran off with the band’s guitarist, Bill. But because Cher and Bono continued to live together — so as not to damage their public image — they discussed what happened at their breakfast table days later.
Cher: The Memoirs, Part One, which took the singer seven long years to write, which brought up old wounds, is now out. (Dey Street books)
Cher wrote that Bono told her he was seriously considering throwing her off the balcony of their hotel. While she wrote that she didn’t think he would actually do it, he told her how he planned to get away with it and get a book deal and his own show. Cher wrote that she responded, “There would have been no need to push me because I was going to jump!” She wrote that they burst out laughing about the whole thing.
“How funny is that?” Cher said when we brought up the story. “We laughed so hard about that. I said, Sonny, this is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call 911, or call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 800-273-8255, or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.
Cher: The Memoir, Part One is out now.
