No Turning Back

With a new hit Broadway musical underway, Cher opens up about a singular life filled with love, failure, loss and success beyond imagination.

HAVE YOU EVER STOPPED TO THINK ABOUT CHER?

You are aware of her, of course, the way you are aware of the sun, with its blinding light, its rising and setting. But have you ever considered the totality of Cher — not just the celestial body herself, and not just the epic arc she has travelled, but the sheer range of stellar explosions she has undergone?

Let’s review. She became famous as half of Sonny and Cher in 1965, at the age of 19. They sold millions of records, morphed into a lounge act, then drew more than 30 million viewers a week on their hit show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. Cher launched a solo career on the side, releasing three number-one singles: “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves”, “Half Breed” and “Dark Lady”. After divorcing Sonny in 1975, she starred in her own damn TV show, thank you very much, which was called — what else? — Cher.

Many more Chers followed. There was Disco Cher, Punk Cher and Rock’n’Roll Cher. In the ’80s there was Best Actress Cher, who starred with Meryl Streep in Silkwood, Jack Nicholson in The Witches Of Eastwick and Nicolas Cage in Moonstruck. She ended the decade with one of her biggest hits, “If I Could Turn Back Time”, giving the world Battleship-Thong Cher. She’s long been a fashion icon. Cher was the first megastar to wear a “naked dress”, decades before J.Lo, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian did.

In fact, we’re currently in the early stages of a new version of Cher. Did you notice how her mid-2018 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again cameo segued into a surprise ABBA tribute album? Those amuse-bouches have recently culminated in her new musical, The Cher Show.

It’s only when I set foot in her presidential suite at the Sunset Marquis one balmy night and begin climbing a spiral staircase, that it hits me: Wait, Cher is also an actual human?