Cher was so unhappy in her marriage to Sonny Bono that she considered taking her own life, she writes in her new book, Cher: The Memoir Part One.
In the book, according to Page Six, Cher says that after they married in 1969, Sonny, who was 11 years older than her, became controlling and jealous: He wouldn’t let her wear perfume, attend Tupperware parties or have her own bank account. In addition, Cher writes that he was unfaithful and then blamed her for his affairs.
Finally, according to People, Cher writes that in 1972, when she was 26 and the two were in Las Vegas, she went out onto her hotel balcony and considered ending it all. “I was dizzy with loneliness. I saw how easy it would be to step over the edge and simply disappear,” she writes. “For a few crazy minutes I couldn’t imagine any other option. I did this five or six times.”
What stopped her, she writes, was the thought of the couple’s young child, Chas, her mother and her sister. She also felt that “things like this could make people who look up to me feel that it’s a viable solution.” Then, she says, she realized, “I don’t have to jump off. I can just leave him.” The two separated soon after and officially divorced in 1975.
Speaking of Chas, who is transgender and now goes by Chaz, The New York Times reports that in the beginning of the book there’s a note that reads, “In this memoir, I refer to my son Chaz as Chas, the name he went by during the years covered in this book. Chaz has granted his blessing for this usage. In the next volume, at the appropriate point, I will refer to my son as Chaz.”
If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
