It came out today in Italy The Memoir – Part One (HarperCollins), Cher's substantial autobiography focusing on the first half of her life, awaiting a second volume to be released in the future. It's an unfiltered story, in perfect Cher style. She spares no one, not her mother's seven husbands or the celebrities she met. Here are some key points from the most important autobiography of the year.
The period with the nuns
Little Cher lived in situations of extreme poverty and precariousness. The absolute worst moment came when mother Georgia Holt got married (her first marriage) to Cher's biological father. John Sarkisian was such an inveterate gambler that he even lost the family business in a bet. He promised his wife he would find a way to provide for their family and abandoned her and her newborn baby in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to pursue plans that never came to fruition. Before leaving, he convinced his wife to put Cher in foster care for a period of time in a religious institution for children, while she tried to make ends meet. For months the nuns did not allow her to see her daughter and, in the end, she was forced to ask a member of the city council for help to get the little girl back. Sisters of Mercy talks about that period of his life.
The difficult relationship with the mother
Cher and her mother had a very strong bond. However, the woman was carrying the trauma of a troubled childhood, which made it difficult for her to face motherhood at a young age. His family was very poor and his violent father even tried to kill his children with gas while they were in their bedroom. It was Georgia who saved them. After being abandoned by her first husband together with her daughter, she found a way to get by by doing odd jobs in nightclubs or as an actress. She remarried several times in search of stability for herself, the future singer and her youngest daughter, Cher's half-sister Georganne. Since some husbands were very rich and led a comfortable life between Los Angeles and New York, the woman was jealous of how much simpler their daughters' childhoods were compared to hers.
The story with Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty was 25 when his car nearly crashed into Cher's car on Sunset Boulevard. She, who was 15 years old and would not have been able to drive, accepted the actor's offer to spend the day together. They went swimming and kissed, then he took her home. Waiting for her was her mother, furious because her daughter had not returned at the scheduled time. She softened when she learned that Beatty was interested in Cher. The two dated one more time and met again in the 1970s, when he asked her out again. They eventually became good friends.
The unfaithful and despotic husband
Cher and Sonny Bono met during a foursome, when she was 16 and he was 27. She was fascinated by him, although she admits that there was no great physical attraction between them. When she needed a place to stay, she lied about her age and moved into Sonny's apartment, which had only one bedroom. They “married” in Tijuana when she turned 18, but it was just a diversion to hide the ceremony held in their first home, when she was a minor. They officially married in 1969. The marriage was decidedly difficult. Despite moments of tenderness, Cher portrays her husband as an unfaithful and domineering man. He didn't allow her to talk to the band members, he was short-tempered and jealous. He even burned her tennis outfits after seeing her socializing with her coach outside of class hours. The two struggled to conceive a child, and Cher's recovery after Chaz's birth was difficult. During her first night at home after being discharged from hospital, she hemorrhaged and passed out on the bathroom floor. Sonny wasn't home.
Cher felt so trapped that at just 26 years old she even considered jumping off a hotel balcony in Las Vegas. It was Lucille Ball who advised her to leave Sonny. “Fuck off, you're the one who's talented,” he told her. Cher returned the favor when, years later, she had Tina Turner on her show and gave her advice on how to put the physical and emotional abuse Ike Turner inflicted on her behind her.
Becoming an actress was difficult
Cher's first love is not music, but acting. She grew up among actors, her mother worked as an actress and, for a time, was married to an actor. He dropped out of high school to attend acting school. Her coach defined her as a natural talent and she felt free by acting. One of the best acting tips he received was to not always wait for his scene partner to finish the line, so the dialogue would flow more smoothly.
In the 1970s, as she began her new career without Sonny, Cher struggled mightily to find an agent, not to mention how hard she struggled to attract the attention of male directors and producers. Mike Nichols passed her up for a role after Jack Nicholson introduced her to him. Jon Peters thought of her for the remake of A star is bornbut to Cher it seemed that the director had “ulterior motives”. Producer Ray Stark also made a vulgar sexual innuendo towards her when they met. It was Francis Ford Coppola who saw Cher's potential on screen, praising her live show and asking her why she hadn't yet made the leap to the world of cinema.
From Rolling Stone US.
