The 78-year-old singer has chosen to narrate her turbulent life in two parts, with the first volume of her autobiography already published
Cher she has so much to share about her life, she couldn’t fit it all into one book. That is why the 78-year-old singer from California was forced to divide her memoirs into two parts. On November 19, the first volume of her autobiography was released, “Cher: The Memoir, Part One”where she talks about her difficult upbringing – particularly her relationship with her mother – her early steps in music and her turbulent relationship with her first husband and mentor, Sonny Bono. A release date for the second volume remains unknown, as both Cher and her publisher have admitted. The singer wanted to capture her experiences in print and although she didn’t write the memoir herself, she achieved her goal.
Cher she recruited several ghostwriters to tell her story. She started with one, but after the first draft didn’t live up to her expectations, she decided to expand both the pages and the team. For four months, two additional writers joined the project, along with an editor who visited her at her home each week. The process left her “exhausted,” she said, even though she never read the final version.
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The first 432 pages of the memoir (in the English hardcover edition, published by Dey Street Books) cover her life from her birth in 1946 to the early 1980s. This period culminates in a defining conversation with director Francis Ford Coppola, who opened her eyes to the world of acting. By then, Cher had already dabbled in film and television in addition to her music videos, but that’s when she really took the leap. In 1984, she received an Oscar nomination for her role in the film ‘Silkwood’ and in 1987, she starred in ‘The Witches of Eastwick’ and most notably in ‘Moonstruck’, which earned her the coveted Oscar. But the road to success was by no means easy.
Cheryl Sarkisian did not have an easy childhood. Her parents, Georgia and Johnny, didn’t exactly fit the mold of the typical happy American family of the 1950s. Her mother, an eternally aspiring actress who once appeared on the hit series “I Love Lucy,” was married six times, according to with her sister Cher, or eight times, according to the singer – depending on whether one counts the husbands she remarried. Johnnie, the first of these husbands and the one who married twice, was 20 when he married her, who was 18. According to Cher, her father was a heroin user and common criminal and was never “present” in her life.
When her mother discovered she was pregnant just three months into the wedding, Johnnie forced her to go to a clinic for an abortion. Georgia didn’t want to do it: “It was her body, her life and her choice”Cher writes in her memoirs, almost 80 years later. “Thank God, though, that he’s gone, or I wouldn’t be here to write these pages”.
But raising her baby was not easy, and her mother was forced to leave Cher in a Catholic children’s institution in Pennsylvania for a long time. When he returned for her, the little girl was already walking. Meanwhile, Georgia worked as a night shift waitress, earning just $20 a week, saving to support herself. He visited Cher week after week until he was able to get her back and move to Nevada to get a divorce. There, Cher was cared for by the neighbors – something the young lady barely realized at the time. It wasn’t until her adult life, when her grandmother came to see her perform in Las Vegas, that she met one of these neighbors. “I thought she was a babysitter. I had no idea I was living with them.”recalls Ser.
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After Nevada, Georgia – who passed away two years ago – followed her dream of becoming an actress and they moved to Los Angeles, the land of her dreams. There, Cher mingled with the children of celebrities such as Liza Minnelli and had a brief teenage romance with Warren Beatty. But in reality she was a poor girl with shoes held together by rubber bands and cardboard soles. Cher admits that her life has been difficult: “The kind of chaos I’ve lived through, it’s too much. Too much anger, too much fear, too much.”
In the early 1960s, at the age of 16, he met Sonny Bono in a coffee shop. She lied about her age – he was 27 – and their friendship soon led to them living together. He offered her shelter in exchange for cleaning and cooking, but made it clear: “Don’t worry, I have two single beds. And frankly, I don’t find you very attractive”. Two years later, they married, first in a mock ceremony in their bathroom and then officially in 1969.
Cher’s marriage to Sonny Bono was not a happy one either. Together they had their first child, Chaz Bono, now 55. At birth, Chaz was a girl named Chastity. Cher explains in her book that she will refer to her son as Chas in this first volume, with his consent. In the second volume, which will cover his transition, she will call him Chaz.
Although Sonny Bono supported his wife’s music career, initially recording together (they appeared as Caesar & Cleo) to huge success, he also led her to ruin – both literally and figuratively. “He took all my money”admits Ser. To this day, she says, she doesn’t understand how this happened or how he was able to do this to her.
According to Cher, Bono tried to expand beyond his fame as a singer and became obsessed with controlling her career. He wouldn’t let her make her own decisions, form friendships with band members – or even their wives – or attend social events. He was unfaithful and even started accusing her of cheating on him. They appeared together on ‘The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour’, sang together and toured together, but their family life was falling apart. Cher writes about a night in 1972 when she felt loneliness consuming her and considered jumping off a hotel balcony.
They were no longer a married couple, but their professional partnership lasted two more seasons, all for the sake of the series. As CBS reports, Cher briefly dated music mogul David Geffen, who one day decided to take over her contract: “Sonny owned 95% of the company and his lawyer 5%. And it was called Cher Enterprises, but I don’t own anything! And we worked together for almost 12 years.”
Starting from scratch, Cher embraced her newfound independence, in complete control of her career, no longer overshadowed by her ex-husband. Her career rebounded, with successes in both music and film. In fact, she still sings today—most recently at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show—and continues to work with a vocal coach. She says she will be “very sad” when she can no longer perform.
Cher remarried in 1975 to Greg Allman. Their marriage lasted just nine days, but they divorced in 1979. Together they had a son, Elijah, in 1976, who struggled with addiction and mental health issues. In fact, a year ago, Cher requested his legal guardianship due to his inability to manage his finances – $120,000 a year from a trust created by his late father. However, they reached a private mediation agreement in May. But Cher doesn’t say much about Elijah in her memoir or in her New York Times interview, so maybe she’ll address that in the second volume of her memoir. We’ll have to wait about a year to find out.
Source :Skai
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