The Most Shocking Revelations From Cher’s Memoir: Love, Loss and Hollywood Secrets
From Gregg Allman to Val Kilmer, the star opens up about loves of her life—and part 2’s release date
After many decades, Cher’s long-awaited memoir is here and trust us when we say the actress and singer held nothing back. From how she lost her virginity to which celebrities she met, which ones she loved and more, it truly is a page-turning read. And yet somehow, it’s only part 1! Keep scrolling to learn the most shocking things the singer revealed, including which person she says she’s “madly in love with.”
Cher on her name and family
One thing Cher has always been open and honest about was how she changed her name from Cherilyn Sarkisian to Cher, but one thing that’s new to the story is what her name actually is.
“I believed Cherilyn was my name until the day years later when I decided to legally change my name to simply Cher,” the singer wrote before diving deep into how challenging giving birth was for her mother—who was 19 when she had here.
“She was exhausted by the time I arrived at around 7:30 a.m. on Monday, May 20,” Cher continued. “My mother had no idea, but the woman insisted, so she replied, ‘Well, Lana Turner’s my favorite actress and her little girl’s called Cheryl. My mother’s name is Lynda, so how about Cherilyn?'”
It turns out that Cherilyn wasn’t the name written on Cher’s birth certificate, though. Instead, it was simply Cheryl. After finding out, the singer decided to ask her mother, “Do you even know my real name, mom?” to which she replied, “I was only a teenager, and I was in a lot of pain. Give me a break.”
The singer goes by Cher now and has been doing so since 1979.
Cher’s first love and losing her virginity
Another thing Cher talked very openly and honestly about was how she lost her virginity at age 14. At the time, the singer had a crush on her neighbor and would kiss him from time to time.
“[He] was sweet enough when we were alone, but as soon as his friends came around, he’d treat me like an embarrassing kid,” Cher wrote before revealing that they once referred to her as “that kid” before ditching her for his friends.
“I was so hurt when he did that, I had revenge sex with him. I had never wanted to. Otherwise, I would have done it one of the five hundred other times he asked,” she wrote. “But I was so angry at being dismissed, I decided to, if not lose, loan out my virginity to him.”
“When what turned out to be a massively overrated experience came to an end, I asked him, ‘Is that it? Are we finished?’ Then I told him to go home and never come back,” the singer continued. “I wanted him to feel just as dismissed as he’d made me feel.”
She then revealed that in the aftermath of what had just transpired, they did not keep in touch and Cher kept their tryst on the down-low.
“My mother warned me that the minute I lost my virginity, she’d know because she’d see it in my eyes, so after the romp with the Italian, I ran to the mirror to check,” she wrote. “I half expected to see the word SEX flashing in fluorescent letters across my forehead, but I couldn’t spot anything different, and she didn’t either.
“I reported to my friends that the ‘thing’ they were constantly talking about was no big deal and that they should carry on kissing.”
The lovers who shaped Cher’s life
Cher might be best known for her marriage to Sonny Bono, but it turns out the singer has had quite a few other love affairs throughout her time, including Warren Beatty, Gregg Allman and Val Kilmer.
“Ten years older than me, Warren was so drop-dead gorgeous I had to steady myself as he asked my name,” Cher wrote in her memoir. “My knees almost buckled in the face of his charm and that smile—a devastating combination…I followed his car to a big white modern house in the Trousdale Estates in Beverly Hills….He showed me inside, fixed us some cheese and crackers, then leaned in and kissed me. Now, this is interesting, I thought as I kissed him back.”
The singer then shared that they swam in Beatty’s pool—with Cher wearing Natalie Wood’s swimsuit—before she went home. Cher was 16 at the time and Beatty was 25.
“I was young, and I went out with him because my mom and my best friend loved him,” she remembers. “So for me, it was kind of fascinating. But it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, this is so amazing’ and ‘I can’t believe it’ or whatever. It was just, ‘This is a guy who’s really interesting and very handsome and charming,’ and that was kind of it.”
Another relationship that Cher details in her memoir is her tryst with Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers, who she married three days after divorcing Bono in 1975.
“It was really intense, but it’s hard to have a marriage with someone who’s doing drugs,” Cher wrote. “Drugs and I were just never meant to be together. I thought it was stupid and still do. I saw too many people where it ruined their lives. It ruined Gregory’s life.”
The two remained together until 1979 and had one child together.
Lastly, Cher details just how much she loved Val Kilmer after meeting him in the 1980s.
“Look, I was madly in love with Val Kilmer, and he left,” she wrote. “Why would he leave? He’s having fabulous sex with one of the most beautiful women in the world. What the f—‘s the problem with that?”
The two never married and split pretty soon after getting together.
Cher on Hollywood friendships
Having been in Hollywood for quite some time, it’s no surprise that Cher knows plenty of people, and in her memoir, she name-drops quite a few.
First, she recalled how once, when she was a child, she went over to Liza Minnelli’s house to play.
“We sat on the front steps [and] Liza spontaneously burst into song with ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow.’ I remember thinking that was strange, as I’d never been around a kid who just burst into song like that, even though she was pretty darn good,” the singer wrote. “It was only later that I realized she was Liza Minnelli and that the woman on the stairs was Judy Garland. Now I realize she probably wasn’t drinking juice.”
Another person Cher talks about in her memoir is her decades-long friend Tina Turner.
“Tina and I were friends longer than most of our fans have been alive,” Cher wrote. “Well into her 80s, she never lost that incredible presence. I miss her mightily.”
Finally, Cher detailed how director Francis Ford Coppola was the one who encouraged her to get back into acting after she took quite a long break from it.
“I told him about the rejections I’d had for being too old, too ethnic [her father was Armenian-American and mother part Cherokee], too tall, or too typecast. I was ‘Cher, of Sonny & Cher’— made a punchline for my complicated personal life. I explained how producers and directors insisted I could only ever do TV comedy, never anything serious or real,” Cher wrote. “Francis was sympathetic but added, ‘The problem is that until you do something, nobody will believe you can. The worst that can happen is that you fail, but at least you’ll have tried.’”
She also ended her memoir—which is only part 1—with a quote from Coppola, writing, “So what are you waiting for?”
What to expect in part 2 of Cher’s memoir
While Part 1 of Cher’s memoir dives into her early life, iconic romances and friendships, Part 2 is sure to be just as captivating. Fans may expect deeper insights into her music career, behind-the-scenes stories from her acting roles in films like Moonstruck and Burlesque, and perhaps more details about her relationships with Hollywood legends. Will she open up further about her family or share more untold stories from her decades-long career? One thing is certain: with Cher at the helm, the next installment will be as bold, fascinating and unforgettable as the icon herself. Stay tuned for its anticipated release in fall 2025!
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