[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Cher‘s new memoir is dropping some serious bombs on the singer’s longstanding career in music.
Now 78 years old, Cher is looking back at her life both in the public eye and behind the scenes with her new book Cher: The Memoir (Part One). Set to be released nationwide on Tuesday, the book tells the tale of the crooner’s life on stage, as well has her often turbulent marriage to the late Sonny Bono.
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In a newly uncovered excerpt dropped ahead of the book’s release in stores, Cher recalled a time when she and Sonny fought over her desire to sleep with a guitarist who’d recently joined their band named Bill. It was October of 1972, and the couple was in the middle of a long performing stint at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas. Cher came to Sonny with her request regarding Bill — even though she didn’t actually mean it, as she explained in the memoir. Instead, she was frustrated that Sonny had been so controlling about everything in her life, and she was lashing out in search of some breathing room.
She recalled what the moment was like after offering up the request to get it on with the guitarist:
“The silence was deafening. Then [Sonny] said, ‘How long do you think you’ll need?’”
To which she responded:
“Two hours.”
At that point, Sonny walked out of the room, leaving Cher to cry on Bill’s shoulder. And not long afterwards, the couple split up. But they were staring on the Sonny And Cher Comedy Hour at the time, which was one of the decade’s biggest TV shows. So, they came to an agreement where they continued living together during the week so as not to destroy the public perception of their supposedly happy marriage.
But here’s where the story gets crazy!! Weeks later, while having breakfast together one morning, Sonny abruptly surprised Cher by dropping this WILD comment about wanting to kill (!!!) her at the Sahara on that fateful night:
“He said, ‘you know, after you went off with Bill that night at the Sahara, I seriously thought about throwing you off our balcony.’ He laughed a little at that and so did I. It was crazy that he was telling me.”
Not content to stop there, Cher recalls how Sonny added:
“He went on: ‘I figured I’d plead insanity like Spade Cooley and get seven years in jail before they released me. Then I’d get a book deal and my own show.'”
WTF?!?!
(FYI, Spade Cooley was a Western Swing musician who murdered his wife Ella Mae Evans at their Bakersfield-area home in April of 1961. He initially pled insanity at trial, but later withdrew the plea and was convicted of first-degree murder, after which he was sentenced to life in prison. But just eight years later, in August of 1969 — at the urging of Cooley’s Hollywood pals — then-California governor Ronald Reagan pushed for his parole, which was granted. However, Cooley died of a heart attack a few months before his parole could take effect.)
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Anyways, following Sonny’s shocking comment, Cher delivered an equally shocking response of her own! She told her estranged husband:
“There would have been no need to push me because I was gonna jump!”
And then… they both laughed. No, seriously! Despite talking about LITERAL MURDER AND SUICIDE, the estranged couple started to laugh it off:
“Within seconds we were howling. No one watching our response to what had been the darkest moment of our marriage would have understood. I don’t think for a minute that Sonny would have actually pushed me off the balcony, but I’m sure it crossed his mind, and he knew that jumping off had also crossed mine. What else could we do but laugh?”
Absolutely wild. And so unsettling!
FWIW, Cher actually did eventually hook up with the guitarist Bill. And in an act of revenge, it later came out that Sonny — who died years later in 1998 in a tragic skiing accident — had slept with Bill’s girlfriend, too. Ooookay!
Thoughts, y’all? It’s a lot. A LOT.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, help is available. Consider contacting the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, by calling, texting, or chatting, or go to 988lifeline.org.
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