The Story of Cher, Who Supported Her Child’s Gender Transition and, at 76, Still Shines Brighter Than Any Zoomer
In 2022, Cher turned 76 years old, and she still remains a fashion icon admired by her fans. She started her career in the 1960s, and she’s been shocking the audience since then but in a very tasteful manner. She’s overcome many difficulties and has been a sensitive and understanding mother.
She’s loved being the center of attention since she was a child.
Young Cherilyn was taught to love creativity. Her mother, who tried herself as an actress, often found roles for her daughters too. She didn’t earn much, and the singer said that she had to “fix” her shoes using rubber bands.
But it wasn’t a problem for Cher. According to her classmates, at that time, she already acted like a future star — she’d dress shockingly, danced during lesson breaks, and played male roles in school plays. The future celebrity directed many of these plays by the way.
At the age of 16, Cher dropped out of school. She’d later say that she never wanted to study, she dreamed of growing up as fast as possible and becoming famous.
“I’ve only been comfortable with three people in my life.”
She became famous as part of a duo with her future husband, Sonny Bono. At first, the singer was supposed to be Bono’s housekeeper, but soon after her first audition, they had a romance. They stayed on the charts for almost a decade and even set the trends for the young people of the generation, and hosted a tv-show.
Despite the success of their project together, Cher was becoming estranged from her husband, both creatively and romantically. She started working with a different producer, and the few projects together with her husband weren’t very successful. Finally, the couple broke up in scandal but made peace many years later. They had a child together.
After Sonny Bono, Cher had a lot of relationships with other celebrities. Producer David Geffen, the man that helped her divorce Bono, was her romantic partner for a short time. The singer left him, and, according to Geffen’s biography, he couldn’t get up from bed for several days — he was in a state of shock.
Right after the divorce from Bono and the break-up with Geffen, the actress unexpectedly married rocker, Gregg Allman. They had a son, but the marriage lasted only 3 years because the musician had bad habits. In 2017, Cher wrote a moving Tweet when Allman passed away.
CHOOCH is an affectionate nickname for Cher made up by Allman.
In 1979, Cher’s child from her first marriage, Chaz, was at a party and asked her to get him an autograph of the KISS bass player, Gene Simmons. This was the start of a new and unusual romance in the singer’s life. Simmons could date other women, and Cher knew about it. But one of the affairs finally put an end to their relationship. This is how Simmons speaks about it:
The singer dated stars such as Val Kilmer, Tom Cruise, and Eric Clapton. She loves talking about these relationships and says, “I’ve only been comfortable with three people in my life. And I married two of them.”
Fighting dyslexia and her motherly love
In school, Cher had trouble reading texts and understanding numbers, which is why she had performance issues, “Almost everything I learned, I had to learn by listening. My report cards always said that I was not living up to my potential.” When she became a mother, she found out it was because of her dyslexia and dyscalculia. Her first son, Chaz, had trouble reading and Cher worried a lot. After some tests, doctors also diagnosed him with dyslexia.
It is still difficult for Cher to write and read. She talks about it in her interviews and devotes a lot of time to charity and the support of medical research. After many years, Cher answered her fan’s question of whether she’d want to get rid of her problem, “No! It caused pain, but it’s me!”
Cher didn’t only have problems with reading. It turned out that before becoming a mother for the first time, she’d had 4 miscarriages. She had to spend 3 months in bed, but it ended well. She finally got pregnant and had a daughter. When her daughter was older, she told her mother she wanted to do a gender transition.
Cher admits that it was hard for her to accept this news. But her own determination helped, “You’ve been with a child for 40 years, and then all of a sudden... But you know what? Chaz was so happy! And that’s what I have to tell a mother or father: ‘You are who you are, but how would you feel if you were someone else, and you couldn’t be that someone else?’ That’s how I had to get it. And, you know, I didn’t do it all that well in the beginning. So, I can’t take too many kudos, but now, it’s fabulous.”
When asked about her parenting skills, Cher says, “I’m a cookie decorating mom, I don’t bake them, I decorate them.”
Ageless fashion icon
Kim Kardashian, Tracee Ellis Ross, Dua Lipa, and others say that the source of their inspiration is the beauty and style of Cher. Beyoncé calls Cher a style icon she respects. Cher has never been afraid of changing her appearance. Her makeup, hairstyles, and outfits are still analyzed by stylists. The singer says she learned a lot from her mother.
Stylists believe that Cher has a wider diversity of outfits and styles than Madonna. She thinks, “Until you’re ready to look foolish, you’ll never have the possibility of being great.” And time proves that she is right. Designer Bob Mackie created her most famous outfits.
She still devotes a lot of time to fashion, and in 2022, she closed the Balmain show, showing off her amazing body in a patterned jumpsuit.
She doesn’t have any secrets to looking youthful
Journalists have often called her the “poster girl” of plastic surgery. The singer talks about it freely, “People should do what makes them happy. Frankly, when I saw my face 10 feet tall in close-ups on a movie screen, I wanted my nose done because it really bothered me.”
The 76-year-old singer does not only rely on surgeons to look good. She has a healthy lifestyle, eats well, works out in the gym regularly, and walks a lot (she hates running). Cher says that she doesn’t have any particular secrets. She just worked a lot and still does to look good.
But she also says that aside from good appearances, the audiences need something more.
The pop singer doesn’t lie, and she honestly says that she feels her age and she doesn’t like it. But her plan is to not give up:
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about Cher?