Cher Says Meeting Sonny Bono ‘Wasn’t Love at First Sight’ Because He Didn’t Find Her ‘Particularly Attractive’
All Cher ever needed was Sonny Bono — but for his part, it took the late singer-songwriter a little more time to fall for his famous ex-wife and collaborator.
In a new interview with CBS Sunday Morning, the “If I Could Turn Back Time” musician gave her unfiltered side of the story of first time crossing paths with her Sonny & Cher counterpart. “I thought it was like when Tony met Maria,” she said, recalling how she met him at a coffee shop in 1962. “I mean, everybody disappeared.”
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“And it was just the two of us,” Cher continued. “But he didn’t like me. It wasn’t love at first sight. It was something. I never felt it before.”
But while the “Believe” artist was all about Bono from the start, she says he preferred her friend. “He said, ‘You know, you can come and stay with me,'” she reflected. “And I was like, ‘Okay, you know.’ And he went, ‘No, no, I don’t find you particularly attractive.’ So, I was upset and happy at the same time.”
Cher was famously 16 when she met a then-27-year-old Sonny, with the couple eventually getting married in ’64 and rising to fame via their husband-and-wife band. They split up a decade later and finalized their divorced in 1975, and the former politician died in a 1998 skiing accident at age 62.
While speaking to CBS, Cher also disputed that their age gap ever felt “strange.” “He was kind of childish,” she said. “He got to be with me … because I didn’t expect anything. I didn’t want money. I didn’t think about anything, you know. And all these other women that were his age, they wanted him to be grownup.”
After the dissolution of Sonny & Cher, the Burlesque star nurtured a successful solo career that was recently celebrated by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which inducted her into its 2024 class in October. “I have a kind love hate relationship [with the Rock Hall],” she told Billboard at the time. “Because I thought, ‘What do I have to f–king do , you know, to be inducted into this place? What do you have to do to be a part of it?’”
Also in October, Cher lead an all-female lineup of performers at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. LISA of BLACKPINK also took the catwalk, as did Tyla.
Cher is now gearing up to release the first part of her autobiography, Cher: The Memoir, Nov. 19. It’s expected to chronicle her childhood and tumultuous marriage to Bono, while the second volume is slated for 2025.
Watch the clip of Cher recounting her earliest memories with Sonny Bono below.
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