Cher is shedding light on the darker chapters of her life in her newly released memoir.
In the new book Cher: The Memoir, Part One, out Tuesday (November 19), the legendary icon opened up about how her ex-husband Sonny Bono “seriously thought” about killing her during the final stages of their marriage.
The shocking confession stemmed from an incident where Cher, now 78, jokingly told Sonny she wanted to sleep with Bill, a guitarist in their band,
The music legend didn’t actually mean it. However, Bono, whom she claimed was so controlling that he forbade her from socializing with her bandmates and even wearing perfume, hadn’t heeded her previous pleas to let her go.
“The silence was deafening. Then [Sonny] said, ‘How long do you think you’ll need?’” Cher recalled. She responded with, “Two hours,” and Bono walked away while she broke down crying on Bill’s shoulder.
Cher and Bono’s relationship began when she was just 16 and he was 27. The couple skyrocketed to fame with their 1965 hit “I Got You Babe” and their beloved Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. While they unofficially tied the knot in 1964, they legally married in 1969.
Despite their success, though, their relationship was fraught with tension, culminating in their split. However, to preserve their public image, Cher agreed to continue living with Sonny during the week.
During one of these mornings, over breakfast, Sonny dropped a bombshell.
“You know, after you went off with Bill that night at the Sahara, I seriously thought about throwing you off our balcony,” he told her.
“He laughed a little at that and so did I. It was crazy that he was telling me,” Cher recalled.
“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.’”
But Cher, not one to hold back, stunned her estranged husband with her own dark admission:
“‘Oh, you did, did you?” she told Bono. “Well, there would have been no need to push me because I was gonna jump!”
Faced with such a stark reality, Cher revealed:
“Within seconds we were howling. No one watching our response to what had been the darkest moment of our marriage would have understood.”
She continued: “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?”
And while the “If I Could Turn Back Time” singer eventually hooked up with Bill, she later discovered that Bono had slept with Bill’s girlfriend as an act of revenge.
According to Cher, Bono cheated on her numerous times throughout their marriage.
One particularly heartbreaking instance saw Cher catching him with his assistant. Devastated, she fled to her mom’s home, only for the mom to admit to her she’d been hearing rumors about Bono’s infidelity for some time.
When the “Believe” singer confronted him about his actions, the actor turned the blame on her, saying it was her fault because they weren’t having enough sex.
However, years later—before his tragic death in a skiing accident in 1998—Bono made amends.
“He showed up on my doorstep in tears,” Cher shared. “Sitting in my kitchen, he said to me, ‘I’m sorry for what I did to you. I was dishonest, I had all those women, and I didn’t think about how it might affect our relationship.’”
Cher admitted she “never thought” she’d hear an apology from him. While it “couldn’t change anything,” she found solace in knowing that he had finally recognized the harm he caused and was genuinely remorseful.
The legendary singer unveiled her two-part memoir earlier this year, delving deep into her life’s highs and lows.
During a November 2023 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Cher explained, “My life is too immense for only one book.”
Her book tour kicks off on Nov. 20 in New York City, followed by Englewood, N.J., London, Beverly Hills, Calif., and San Francisco.
