Cher Reflects on Memoir's Emotional Toll and Long-Buried Questions About Sonny Bono

Cher has disclosed that documenting her life story for a two-part memoir titled simply "Cher" took considerable emotional toll on the 78-year-old music and entertainment icon. The first-volume autobiography explores her decades-spanning career and personal relationships, yet the process of revisiting this material proved more demanding than initially anticipated. In an interview with The New York Times, the legendary performer stated that the endeavor fundamentally exhausted her.

"This book has exhausted me. It took a lot out of me. Too much life. Lived too long," Cher told the publication. She expressed little concern about public reception, adding: "People can say what they want. It's who I am. I am who I am. I can't change it."

Financial Revelations and Unresolved Questions

Beyond documenting her career achievements, the memoir process prompted Cher to reflect on difficult chapters from her past. Specifically, she has revisited questions surrounding her financial relationship with Sonny Bono, her performing partner and first husband during the late 1960s. The pair achieved significant commercial success as a duo before their tumultuous marriage dissolved in 1975, resulting in a divorce that followed years of undisclosed financial arrangements.

During their partnership, Bono structured their finances in a manner that rendered Cher technically an employee rather than an equal partner, a reality she did not initially comprehend. "We're husband and wife. Half the things are his, half the things are mine. It didn't occur to me that there was another way," Cher reflected. She expressed deep frustration about the lasting nature of this confusion, stating: "To this day, I wish to God I could just ask, 'Son, at what point, during what day, did you go, 'Yeah, you know what? I'm going to take her money'?'"

Bono died in 1998 at age 62 following a skiing accident, eliminating any possibility for a direct conversation about his financial decisions. The couple shared one child together: Chaz, now 55. After her 1975 divorce from Bono, Cher married musician Gregg Allman in the same year; the pair had a son named Elijah, now 48, before divorcing in 1979. In more recent years, Cher has been in a relationship with music executive Alexander Edwards since 2022.