Cher bio, career path, age, ethnicity, boyfriend, children, height 2025

Biography of Cher

Cher, a legendary Armenian-American songstress and actress, has indeed left her indelible mark on the world. As a music composer, director, and successful entrepreneur, her distinctive contralto voice and an array of accolades - including an Oscar, Grammy, Golden Globe, Cannes Palm d'Or, and an Emmy - set her apart. She remains the only singer whose hits have dominated America's music charts for over six decades.

Childhood

In the spring of 1946, in the town of El Centro, a not-so-successful actress named Georgia Holt gave birth to a girl. By the time the newborn was ten months old, her mother had already filed for divorce from the child's father, truck driver John Sarkisian.

Father and daughter would not meet again until the child, christened Cherilyn at birth, was eleven years old. Growing up impoverished, Cherilyn was exceptionally shy, her lack of wealth a source of constant embarrassment.

Additionally, Cherilyn harbored a deep-seated envy towards the blonde, blue-eyed girls who were the epitome of American beauty at the time. Her father's prominent Armenian nose, her mother's elongated face and stubborn black hair – half Native American, half French – and to top it all off, her crooked teeth, filled her with despair. Her peers taunted her, and she experienced her divergence from the norm quite early on:

I knew that a blue-eyed blonde, the woman I'd always wished to be, would never gaze back at me from the mirror.

Cherilyn's academic journey was an uphill battle, her learning further complicated by dyslexia. Her mother, preoccupied with her own personal affairs, had little time to monitor her daughter's progress. On her fifth attempt at finding happiness with a man, Georgia married Gilbert LaPiere, a respectable vice president of a small bank. Thanks to their stepfather, Cherilyn and her half-sister, Georganne (born from Georgia's brief marriage to actor John Southall), began to live a somewhat improved life.

From a very early age, Cherilyn, who loved going to the cinema and rock concerts, harbored dreams of becoming a famous actress. Audrey Hepburn was her first idol, though Cher admits that it was only because Hepburn, like her, was a brunette. Cherilyn devoted more time to perfecting her autograph than any other endeavor, believing that the signatures she would distribute to numerous fans must be the most elegant.

Cherilyn was a bit of a wild child, often disappearing to play with her friends on the streets. At the age of thirteen, she had a run-in with the law. A friend asked her to drive him in his own car to a drive-in theater. However, he left for some errands and didn't return for a long time. Cher was waiting in the car when a policeman knocked on the window. She was taken to the police station and didn't return home until late at night. This story was recounted by Cher's mother on "The Tonight Show," where she even brought a photo of a young Cher from the police station. The singer herself admits that she had completely forgotten about this incident.

Youth

At sixteen, Cherilyn decided that school offered her no further prospects; academics held no appeal for her. Convincing a friend to drop out with her, the young woman set off in pursuit of a better life and moved to Los Angeles, where she enrolled in an acting school.

By Cher's own account, a fortuitous encounter led her to Salvatore "Sonny" Bono, a musician who was then working as an assistant to producer Phil Spector. Over a cup of coffee in a small cafe, they struck up a conversation. Sonny invited her to move in with him, on the condition that she would keep his home tidy and the fridge stocked. He also arranged for Cherilyn to work as a backup vocalist at Spector's studio. The young pair quickly bonded over their shared love for rock music.

A 28-year-old Bono, who dabbled in songwriting, saw in the still-shy girl a strong ambition, a vibrant personality, and above all, an undeniable talent. Their two-year platonic friendship was rather unconventional during an era when the younger generation was advocating peace and love instead of war.

Sonny and Cher

Cher had just turned eighteen when Sonny decided to form two duos with her. One was a matrimonial union; Cher married Bono. The other was a performance duo. The name "Caesar and Cleo" (later changed to "Sonny and Cher") quickly became a household name, and their success was meteoric. Bono had an uncanny intuition. While his young wife agonized over not fitting the mold of a fair-haired, blue-eyed beauty, he insisted on creating their first joint album, with the mandatory single "I Got You Babe."

Bono personally brought the song to a radio show where listeners voted for their favorite composition. For several weeks, "I Got You Babe" topped both the American and British charts. It's the song that Bill Murray's character wakes up to every day in the movie "Groundhog Day."

Soon their album "Look at Us" was released. The eccentricity of the duo became a guarantee of successful performances. As Bono had predicted, the audience was drawn to Cher's striking beauty, her sensual and unusual voice, and the long-haired hippie Sonny standing beside her. Soon their second album "All I Really Want to Do" was released. Cher performed the title song from the album solo for the first time. The pair released seven more albums by the end of the sixties.

Cher – All I Really Want To Do

While their professional alliance brought them fame, their marital union gave them a surprise in the form of a little one, whom they named Chastity. The parents borrowed the name from a film Bono decided to produce with his own money, featuring Cher in the lead role. Unfortunately, the film was unsuccessful, and the money they had earned from music and joint performances quickly evaporated.

In 2010, their daughter underwent a transgender transition and changed from Chastity to Chaz, which initially shocked Cher. Later, Cher stated that, as hard as it was for her to accept having two sons instead of a son and a daughter, above all, she wanted her children to be happy. If the sex change made her little girl a happy boy, she would accept that, even though she still struggles to call her daughter by a male name and gets confused with pronouns "he," "she," "her," "his":

Chaz still forgives me for all my slips, doesn't get mad at me, understands what I'm going through. And I love him — it doesn't matter what form he or she is in. My children are good, they have chosen their paths in life. My son Elijah is a musician, an artist, and lives near me in Malibu. But I'll never stop regretting that I spent much less time with them in their childhood than I should have.

Soon after the failure of their film debut, the husband and wife began performing on CBS in "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour," which brought them popularity and success. The most famous people came to visit them: Michael Jackson, Ronald Reagan, Muhammad Ali, David Bowie. They joked on television every week, but meanwhile, a storm was brewing in their family.

Sonny allowed himself to party with young girls, while Cher had to stay at home with the child. Their divorce in 1974 was scandalous, but later the singer confessed:

I was never as lonely as I was in my marriage to Sonny.

Solo Career and Second Marriage

Nevertheless, viewers wanted to see the beloved Sonny and Cher show, and after some time, the former spouses resumed their television partnership. Parallel to this, Cher successfully continued her solo career and a year after the divorce, she married rock musician Gregg Allman. This marriage brought Cher two important events: she gave birth to a boy whom she named Elijah Blue, and released a joint album with Allman.

However, her husband's addiction to illicit drugs did not appeal to the singer. He refused her help, Cher filed for divorce and simultaneously started a solo show in Las Vegas. Seeing her on stage, Francis Ford Coppola advised the singer to act in films. In the early eighties, she moved to New York to participate in the Broadway production "Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean."

Seeing her performance, director Mike Nichols invited Cher to star in his drama "Silkwood" alongside Meryl Streep. The singer did not hesitate for a minute. For her brilliantly played supporting role, Cher was nominated for an Oscar. She didn't win that time, but she received the Cannes Palm Branch for her role in the drama "Mask," and an Oscar was awarded to her as the best actress of 1987 for her masterful performance in the movie "Moonstruck," where Cher embodied the image of Loretta Castorini, and her partner was a young Nicolas Cage.

At the award ceremony, the actress appeared in a legendary transparent dress with a few beads, which covered as much as possible of what is usually covered. Since then, provocative, sexy clothing has become an integral part of Cher's image.

Cher Wins Best Actress | 60th Oscars (1988)

In the same year, "The Witches of Eastwick" (Cher as one of the witches, Alexandra Medford) and "Suspect" (role of Kathleen Riley) were released. At the same time, the actress signed a contract with Geffen Records, releasing a new album in collaboration with Jon Bon Jovi, Michael Bolton, Diane Warren.

The music video for the song "If I Could Turn Back Time" was banned by some particularly modest channels, as Cher's outfit in the video was more notable for its absence.

A career race of more than forty years led the singer to doctors who diagnosed her with chronic fatigue syndrome in 1992. But Cher couldn't rest for long and appeared in the movie "The Player" (cameo). In 1995, the singer released the legendary album "It's a Man's World". But the most unsurpassed in Cher's musical career is considered the album "Believe"; its title song brought a Grammy award to the pop diva's collection.

Cher – Believe

During this period, Cher learned that her first husband, Sonny Bono, died while skiing. She was very hard hit by the loss, as it was this man who opened the way to fame for her, was her first man, and was the father of her first child. Falling into depression for almost a year, the actress appeared in public only in 1999, to perform the US anthem in the final of the Super Bowl football game and to appear in the film "Tea with Mussolini".

The mystical connection with her late husband, according to the actress, was helped to establish by medium James Van Praagh. In the meantime, she wrote the book "The First Time" and decided to try her hand as a director. For the movie "If These Walls Could Talk," Cher was nominated for a Golden Globe.

Farewell Tour and Eternal Youth

The beginning of the new millennium marked the beginning of Cher's farewell to her performing career. Although now her famous farewell tour "Living Proof: The Farewell Tour" is called the most successful commercial tour of a female singer in history, at that time Cher seriously announced that she was going to leave the stage. From 2002 to 2005, she toured around the world, visiting more than twenty countries, gave 325 concerts, which raised more than a quarter of a billion dollars.

From 2008 to 2011, Cher honestly fulfilled the terms of the contract she signed in Las Vegas for performances with her show "Cher at the Colosseum" at Caesar's Palace and appeared in the film "Burlesque," where she also performed her composition. In the summer of 2012, the actress fell in love again and married rugged biker Tom Medvetz. It must be said that the older the pop diva became, the younger she chose her boyfriends.

The youngest of them turned out to be baker Rob Camilletti, who was eighteen years younger than his beloved. Cher spoke admiringly that the guy had the most beautiful face she had ever seen, and her chosen one was sweating from the publicity and eventually preferred to escape from the relationship with the goddess of the stage.

The temperament of the singer and her extraordinary appearance, over which she tirelessly works, reinforced by her talent and charm, proved too much for the men she chose. But the way this great woman deals with her own age is worthy of admiration. Cher herself believes that she just got lucky with her genes:

My mom, God bless her, looks luxurious at 83 - many young women would dream of having a figure like hers. And my grandmother - who, by the way, gave birth to my mother at 14 - also looked great, living up to 96. Until she broke her hip, she went to the gym four times a week. So I pray and hope for the best. Moreover, contrary to someone's perceptions, I am quite disciplined. I don't drink, smoke, or take drugs. When I perform, I live like a nun. I get up at 10 o'clock in the morning, do physical exercises for an hour and a half, then go to a dance class, to the pool, I love windsurfing. Everything except Pilates - I think it's terribly boring. I've been physically active all my life as long as I can remember. My sister read books, and I ran and climbed trees.

Even her passion for tattoos (a butterfly, lily, cracked diamond, and a bracelet of crosses and hearts) was extraordinary, although soon Cher paid fabulous amounts to remove all tattoos. The singer herself says:

Once I was forty years old, now much more. I know for sure that it's better to be forty. I'm scared that the day will come when I wake up an old grump and... I won't want to go to Disneyland. I have a dream - never to get old. That's why I torment myself with exercises.

Cher Now

In 2018, the actress returned to the big screen. She gladly played Ruby Sheridan, Donna's mother and Sophie's grandmother in the film "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again". The role inspired her so much that Cher released the album "Dancing Queen", the compositions from which immediately took the top positions in the American charts.

In the summer of 2019, The New York Times named Cher among hundreds of performers whose things and works were destroyed during the big fire of 2008 at Universal Studios Hollywood. The press also reported that the singer was most upset about the loss of her favorite skull and bones t-shirt, about which she tweeted:

My t-shirt is gone. The same one - black with a white pirate (skull and crossed bones). I wore it for 30-40 years. It's my favorite wardrobe item. I went to pray to Saint Anthony, who helps find what you lose!

In February 2020, Cher participated in a spectacular motorcycle photoshoot along with Kim Kardashian and Naomi Campbell. Later, a backstage from the shoot was edited, which the singer shared with a million subscribers on her Instagram.

In November 2020, Cher made negative comments about the policy of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Nagorno-Karabakh. In her Twitter, the singer predicted a "real hell" that awaits her nation after the "painful concessions" of the government during the military conflict. Cher, whose father was of Armenian descent, has often expressed her concern and solidarity for the Armenian people and their struggles. This statement reflects her ongoing engagement and concern for the region.

Cher Condemns the Ethnic Cleansing of Armenians in Artsakh

In 2022, Cher expressed her support for Ukraine following Russia's assault