The Magic of Cher News Archive

"Cher Shares"

    Source:  Ladies Home Journal, July 1999 v116 i7 p42.     Title:  CHER SHARES.(singer and actress discusses life and career)(Brief              Article)(Interview)     Author:  David Naylor Subjects:  Actresses - Interviews              Singers - Interviews    People:  Cher - Interviews Locations:  United States Electronic Collection:  A55052185 RN:  A55052185 Full Text COPYRIGHT 1999 Meredith Corporation

    The ultimate survivor tells all about her six years of celibacy, accepting her daughter's lesbianism, and why she believes in life after love. Q: Last year, when you turned fifty-two, you said that your fifties "suck." What did you mean? CHER: What I actually said was that I've been forty and I've been fifty, and forty is better. But since I said that, everything seems to have gone right for me. I had a big hit with "Believe" and I'm the most surprised of anybody. Q: Tell me about your latest film role in director Franco Zeffirelli's Tea With Mussolini? CHER: I play Elsa, a tart with a heart. When Franco asked me to play her, he said that I was the only actress he wanted for the role. It's always seductive when a director, especially a man, says that. Q: Your two children, Chastity and Elijah, are grown-up now. Do you think you have been a good mother to them? CHER: I've been quite strict, but I'm the first person they call in a crisis. Chastity comes home a lot, and Elijah is living with me at the moment. I'm proud of them both. Q: How did you feel when your daughter came out as a lesbian at nineteen? [Graphic omitted]CHER: It was really difficult for me to accept that my daughter was gay. We got into a huge fight about it, and it took me at least a month to begin to come to terms with it. I felt that I had failed as a parent. But now she talks to me about her girlfriends and tells me that most of the men I go out with are unsuitable. She thinks I should go out with singer k.d. lang! We don't have any secrets anymore, and she knows that I'm always there for her. Q: Your son also went through a rebellious phase, wearing women's clothing and saying that he looked far prettier than you did. How did you handle that? CHER: After what I went through with Chas, I could cope with Elijah. But he's not gay. He was trying out a new look for his band and he was into glam rock at the time. Q: Your parents split up when you were very young, and your mother married eight times, including twice to your father. How did that affect you? CHER: My father wasn't really there for me at all. My parents kept getting back together, but only for a minute. My sister and I led insane, chaotic lives as children, but my mother managed to instill in us the basic rules of honesty and helping other people when they are in trouble. Q: Does it bother you that people are so fascinated by your cosmetic surgery? CHER: People seem to pick on me more than anybody else. Cosmetic surgery gives me a lift and a little more security, which, in my job, can be useful. Q: Do you worry what people think about you? CHER: I don't care anymore. Lots of times I've been hurt by it, but it's part of the job. It shouldn't be, but it is. Q: You've had a colorful lovelife. You were married to Chastity's father, Sonny Bono, and then Elijah's father, Gregg Allman, and you've had relationships with Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Richie Sambora, David Geffen and Rob Camilletti. Would you say you have been promiscuous? [Graphic omitted]CHER: People think I'm a lot wilder than I actually am. For example, when I married Gregg, just because he was doing drugs everybody thought I must be doing them, too. I've never jumped straight into bed with guys. I need to know them for a while. All my ex-boyfriends and I have remained friends because we were friends before we were lovers. Q: Who has been the greatest love of your life? CHER: My relationship with Rob was the best. He was so much fun. I felt that I was in really good hands when I was with him. He always said to me, "You need protecting." Unfortunately, by protecting me, he ended up getting arrested and thrown in jail [for fighting off the paparazzi], which was the beginning of the end of the relationship. But today, we are still the best of friends, and we talk all the time. [Graphic omitted]Q: You've been celibate since your relationship with Richie Sambora ended six years ago. Are you through with men? CHER: Definitely not. For me to be single this long is quite strange. It's the longest I've ever been on my own. I've had a great time, but now I'd like to find somebody again. Q: Why don't you, then? CHER: The truth is, I hardly ever see men that I'm attracted to. I'm not attracted to guys just because they look great. Some of the men I've been out with are very handsome; others have been really unattractive but fabulous. Then there's the problem of being Cher. It's easy for women to hang out with men who are famous, but no man wants to be Mr. Cher. [Graphic omitted]Q: Do you ever feel that time is beginning to run out? CHER: I've always thought of men as a luxury rather than a necessity. Q: Your first husband, Sonny, died a year and a half ago. The two of you always had a stormy relationship. How do you feel about him now? CHER: Up until Sonny's death, nobody wanted to know me, and then, suddenly, it all started happening for me. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he's up there taking care of me. He did a good job of looking after me in the sixties, and I'm quite happy for him to do it again now.