Cher wasn’t kidding when she sang “Love Hurts.”
The singer soared to stardom in the ’60s alongside Sonny Bono as the pop duo Sonny & Cher, but their split was as bitter as they come, with Cher claiming Bono took all her money.
“I’m still really kind of angry in a certain way,” Cher told Yahoo Entertainment in an interview discussing Cher: The Memoir, Part One, which is out now.
While America fell in love with the pair’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 blindsided to learn she had no money of her own. Bono, who controlled their business dealings and finances, had set up a company, Cher Enterprises, that he owned. It also made Cher his employee. She was under contract to him. Their divorce was a battle royal, with Cher citing “involuntary servitude” as the reason for their split.
Cher’s entertainment career began with her partnership with Sonny Bono, who she met in 1962. Bono, 11 years older, managed their career and finances. (Jan Olofsson/Redferns)
“One question I asked him, more than once, was: ‘When did you think it was OK to take my money?’” Cher recalled. “He said, ‘I always knew you’d go.’”
The pair met when she was 16 (claiming to be 18) and he was a 27-year-old divorcé and moved in together. His songwriting talents (“I Got You Babe,” “The Beat Goes On”) coupled with her voice and fashion sense made them superstars.
But Cher wrote that Bono became controlling (overseeing all their business dealings), moody (abusing prescription medications), jealous (burning her tennis clothes after she said hello in passing to some men after a lesson) and unfaithful (including with “hookers in our home”). She felt lonely, overworked and like she was in a loveless marriage. Before she decided to leave him in October 1972, she experienced suicidal thoughts on a hotel balcony, which were 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 & Cher made severing their relationship complicated. They actually hid their split from the public at first, continuing to star in The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and living together. Even though Bono took her earnings and branded 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’d also turn to him for advice. (Cher memorably eulogized Bono at his 1998 funeral.)
“Nothing could break the bond,” Cher said. “Like I told someone, if he walked in my door right now, we would be Sonny & Cher.”
While marriage and a business partnership weren’t for them, they loved performing.
“You know what: That was our happiest time together,” she said of being onstage. “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 to the set that week and had chemistry as a performing pair.
“It’s hard to explain to people, but what we did on TV, it was real,” she said. “Two days after I left him — and he was really upset — we went on a Sonny & Cher episode and we were hysterical. We were so funny.”
She added, “We were always just … something more than the sum of the parts.”
And they shared a sense of humor maybe only they understood at times.
In her memoir, Cher detailed how their 1972 breakup played out, referring to it as the darkest moment of their marriage. How — instead of ending her life on the balcony at the Sahara hotel in Las Vegas — she ran off with the band’s guitarist, Bill. But because Cher and Bono continued living together — so that they didn’t hurt their public image — they discussed what went down days later at their breakfast table.
Cher: The Memoir, Part One, which took the singer seven long years to write, resurfacing old wounds, is out now. (Dey Street Books)
Cher wrote that Bono told her that he seriously thought about throwing her off the balcony of their hotel. While she wrote that she didn’t think he’d actually do it, he told her how he planned to get away with it and end up with a book deal and his own show. Cher wrote that she replied, “There would have been no need to push me because I was gonna jump!” She wrote that they burst into laughter over 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 f***ing 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.
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