Cher: Life in the Spotlight

I would say don't give up and don't take don't take no for an answer and if you want something bad enough and you're willing to give up other things like you know in my business you have to give up a lot to get what you want and uh and if you want to do it badly enough it's like I wouldn't take no I mean if I if I was I if I gave any anyone any advice but especially women just don't you know don't believe no I just don't believe now when someone tells me no I just don't believe it yeah a legendary musician a Timeless icon Cher has secured her Legacy amongst the Stars starting out as a young girl with crippling stage fright evolving into one of the most recognized figures in Hollywood with countless awards and achievements she has established six Decades of stardom with an increasing popularity throughout there are only a handful of famous celebrities who go by one name whereas one word is enough to kind of Express their iconic status Cher is one of those individuals she only needs four small letters in her name and everyone knows exactly who you are talking about Cher is the Ageless wonder that has conquered pretty much every media screen TV the Billboard charts gone on to have one of the highest grossing concert tours of all time and the most noted thing about Cher is she transcends and defies age share is much more than a pop star consistently topping the charts she is the one woman embodiment of Fame itself conquering every corner of the industry no matter what is said about her or the challenges she has faced she remains on top refusing to fade away [Music] foreign [Music] sarkasian was born on May 20 1946 to parents John sarkeesian and Georgia Holt her mother Georgia born Jackie Jean Crouch was a model and part-time actress Shear was born to a mom who was a teenager and really unprepared for having a baby in fact Cher's mom is very much considered an abortion shares mom was going to have an abortion and even went as far as seeing the doctor and booked the abortion and when she got in there she changed her mind and decided to have the baby but Cher knew from actually a very early age that her mom had nearly aborted her and I think that had a real impact perhaps on her feeling of whether or not she was wanted and her place in the world her father was an Armenian American truck driver known to have drug and gambling problems Cher's Father John sarkisian was gone really absent from her life from about five months old he had major addiction problems he was a truck driver he was always on the road and he was not a figure in her life at all while she was still a baby her father took their family to Pittsburgh and then abandoned her mother leaving her alone and a single parent this led to her parents divorce in 1947 Cher's mom was really ill-equipped from motherhood and Cher's father was completely ill-equipped Cher's parents were both very young her mom was only 18 when she was born and their marriage broke up very soon after Cher was born I think she was about five months old when her dad left Cher's father was an alcoholic and drug addict who had terrible addiction issues as well as being a truck driver which meant that he was often away and on the road Cher's mom had aspirations of being an actress she wanted nothing more than to be famous in Hollywood and she was working as a waitress in order to pursue her acting dreams so Cher's mom was you know very young not ready to have a baby her husband was an addict who left and she found herself really struggling to raise baby share Georgia managed to get a job in a diner working nights to make ends meet Cher ended up in a Catholic orphanage since her mother had no time for a baby whilst trying to earn enough to support them Cher's mom actually put her in an orphanage where she took her to a Catholic orphanage and said could you please take care of my baby I am working nights I'm working all kinds of shifts in order to support us and try and get a good job and I can't look after her the nuns took Sharon and originally it was going to be just for a few days and it ended up being about two weeks before Cher's mom Georgia came back together and at that point the nuns said we think Cher is better off here at the orphanage and really didn't allow Cher's mom to take her and that in that led to kind of a struggle that went on for many months where Cher's mom struggled to get custody back of her daughter Cher has said in later interviews that this time in her life had lifelong ramifications for her she said that even as an adult she would wake up sometimes and not know where she was and not know that she was safe and feel not secure in in where she was and I think a lot of that stemmed back shares experience of being actually given to an orphanage at a young age with complete strangers before her mom was able to eventually reclaim her growing up Cher didn't have extraordinary aspirations she hated the dark look she had inherited from her father all the successful role models in the popular magazines and in the public eye were blonde Beauties shares talked a lot about how difficult it was to grow up with a mom and a sister who both looked alike with blonde hair and blue eyes and she just didn't fit in there was a famous incident actually when they were driving back from Tijuana to California where they lived and they were actually stopped at the border and questioned you know whose child is she and her mom Georgia said she's my daughter she's my oldest daughter but they questioned it because Georgia looked like georgianne her second child but she didn't look anything like Cher and I think again you know taking that and going back to those months in the orphanage Cher felt like she didn't fit in she felt somehow displaced or insecure Cher has recalled not meeting her father properly until she was 11. she was really happy to meet her dad because up till that point Cher always felt like she didn't fit in her mom had blonde hair and blue eyes her stepsister her younger sister georgianne also had blonde hair and blue eyes and Cher was this very dark looking exotic creature who just didn't fit in with the family when she met her dad she said that I finally got it I finally understood where I fit I finally understood where I belonged because her dad looked like her he was Armenian he was dark he was handsome he was a carbon copy of Cher and that made her feel great to actually see him for the first time really the problem was it didn't last very long John sarkisian had major addiction problems Sharon said he was using heroin at the time and he very quickly vanished again from Cher's life shares relationship with her dad or lack of relationship would have lifelong ramifications on her own life and many believe that her relationship with sunny Bono was in very much much reaction and a consequence of the fact that she never had a father figure growing up [Music] destined for the world of show business but without the confidence to put herself forward as a solo singer she had no idea how she would reach any Great Heights Cher is famous for her own insecurities she has talked numerous times about her struggle with confidence with Stage Fright her lack of confidence her feeling ugly for such a long time and she's been very open about that Cher does not have a tremendous amount of confidence but in spite of that she manages to project a very powerful exciting engaging image when she's on stage Cher lack confidence in her own ability and could not stand alone as a musician Cher was only 16 when she started hanging around recording studios in Los Angeles Cher had been a very rebellious teenager in fact she started driving when she was 14 without a license and ended up getting in trouble for doing that she was a rebel from an early age she did not conform to what her mom or let's say the school superintendent wanted so she was only 16 and already hanging around recording studios she knew that she wanted to be famous she wanted to be an actress actually more than a singer but she was really just gravitating towards anyone who was doing something in Hollywood eventually one of the actual backup singers was stuck in traffic or her car wasn't working so Cher Got to join in on one of the songs as a backup singer and that of course led to more and more opportunities for share share is in the background supporting them and this is one of her first turns at stardom and being around successful musicians working in a recording studio and with other musicians sparked the beginning of Cher's accidental famous relationship with Sonny Bono couple met in November 1962. they both went double dating with separate Partners but beneath the surface romance was brewing it was through a mutual friend that she met Sonny Bono she has said that it was love at first sight for her that when she saw Sunny it was like the whole world stopped and just parted and all she could see was him she actually had a boyfriend at the time who was actually there when she met Sonny Bono but that quickly ended because I think that she knew from very early on that Sunny was the only one for her Sonny was very helpful in nurturing to share when she didn't have any money he actually had her move in with him not as a wife or a lover but as a housekeeper just to help her keep her head above water financially he actually said to share at that time don't worry nothing's going to happen I'm not really attracted to you at first Sonny wanted to launch Cher as a solo artist writing songs for her to perform alone however with shears crippling stage fright she would only sing with him by her side leading to their famous duets when you look at some of the early filmed recordings of Sonny and Cher our shares looking at Sunny she's not looking out to the audience because when she would sing to him she didn't have to interact in the audit with the audience and she could pretend that the only audience there was sunny she was so terrified of being on stage in front of people that it was only when she looked only at Sunny that she was able to have the courage and the confidence to actually go on Sunny really pushed her to get out there and show the world what she had they lived in the same apartment building which then led to them spending more and more time together before they bonded over their love of Music within five or six months the two had become Inseparable they were in a romantic relationship they were madly in love and they would start to record songs together initially they went out under the name of Caesar and Cleo kind of a play on Caesar and Cleopatra Cher did kind of look like Cleopatra with the cold-lighted eyes and her exotic features and Sonny even his haircut he was rather short in stature he looked like Caesar so it made sense but their albums were not well received they never really got any kind of a claim or fame as Caesar and Cleo so not too long after that they released an album under the name of sunny and Cher one of one of Sonny and Cher's biographers talks about how the Rolling Stones actually tell Sonny and Cher you have to go to England one England is where you're going to get real buzzed you're going to get more of an organic following and they check into the Hilton and they almost immediately get kicked out because of the way that they're dressed it's not appropriate for an establishment like the Hilton when that happened it garnered worldwide headlines about how they have been thrown out of the London Hilton this actually helped their album sales and when their next album came out as sunny and Cher kind of showing them to be the kind of typical hippie hipster it took off they did really well and that's of course when we got I got you babe that everyone still knows the words to [Music] oh well I don't know while that's true [Music] I Got You Babe I Got You Babe was absolute pop magic because it introduced this kind of hippie counterculture to this big big booming wall of sound thing that Phil Spector had been doing they have a Bohemian look which has a little bit of the hippie culture at the time but with a certain kind of exoticism that comes with Cher with her having the long hair then having the bell bottoms the fur vests when sunny and Cheryl start performing shows you see fans and young girls coming with the flat iron super long hair and the exact same kind of outfits that Cher wears so sheer starts becoming not just a singing Idol but a fashion Idol as well quite early on in their career I Got You Babe rocket it's sunny and Cher to fame for several years but by 1969 the public thought they were just one hit wonders this same year their daughter Chastity was born as the industry naturally changed their careers began to dwindle sunny and Cher became old news they no longer appeared on mainstream television or at concerts and began to wonder if that was the end of the road [Music] in order to support themselves sunny and Cher began performing in nightclub lounges singing their top two songs but mostly covers of popular hits they would be scheduled two shows a night with barely anyone turning up to the second performance as their shows were so poorly attended Sonny and Cher began entertaining their band throughout just talking and laughing share We're Riding High at the top of the chars with I got you babe but as the 60s kind of waned and people moved on from hippies their star power was fading fast they ended up going from you know stadiums where they were playing to 25 000 to nightclubs and bars where they were just trying to make a living eventually people would come along to hear the talking which led to them being scouted and then came the launch of the Sonny and Cher show at one of these shows there was an executive from CBS Television who thought they were fabulous and went up to them afterwards and said I want to put you on TV I want to do a variety show headlined by you and that was really their big break so it was the first big comeback we saw from Cher where she could have just been a one hit wonder you know kind of an A Relic of the hippie era who disappeared but instead she did something different she created a Persona a personality almost a comedy act and they turned that into the Sonny and Cher show [Music] from 1971 this show dominated the ratings and the couple were once again on top everybody sat around with their families to watch it and it would absolutely solidify Cher's place in history [Music] here I go [Music] it really was about showcasing this odd strange partnership and how through all it still kind of worked and it had that sitcom quality although it was a variety show it had this quality of how will they ever make it work and they did make it work wow wow you look good you look good share share my fair share funny share a wonderful singer I suppose I would be too if I had that nose foreign [Applause] however amidst their Newfound success Cher noticed that Sunny had a Wandering eye for other women and caught him cheating there were rumors about Sonny's wandering eye having perhaps having had affairs and it caused a lot of bitterness and anger on the part of Cher If you look at later episodes of the Sonny and cherish show you can see that some of her very famous zingers kind of one-liners she would throw to Sunny have a real Edge in them they don't really seem like she's joking Sonny had this star power and women were very attracted to it during their divorce she said stardom made Sonny a huge womanizer one woman or even five was not enough for him and she struggled she was jealous she had obviously this this baggage going on about her father abandoning her she felt abandoned by him and he was running a mock with all these different women one of the things sunny and Cher were famous for was she would insult him take little Jabs at him on stage and that was kind of their stick but at the end of their relationship as it was deteriorating they became less and less funny and more and more pointed as Cher was more and more dissatisfied with life as Mrs Sunny Bono listen you're the one that's always saying my mother has a fantastic memory so what do you make an appointment that's what I've said an elephant never forgets foreign [Applause] relationship there was a huge power imbalance there he had the he had the tools to make her famous he was over a decade older than her she was just a teenager and you do wonder what he saw in her he always said that he never found her particularly beautiful that's what she went on to say is that he was quite mean about her appearance and you do Wonder well what did he see in her then apart from someone that he could mold and shape to his own desires the show continued whilst their marriage did not initially nobody had realized the pair had split up but slowly cracks begun to show on stage I started a music business when when I was about 10 years old I learned I learned from my Uncle Tony who is an empresario That's Italian for organ grinder sure that's not funny eventually they decided to end the show after making it a top 10 hit on television without Sunny by her side Cher was forced to continue on stage on her own she she could have completely hidden but by that time she realized that she could have she could go this alone well coming out of the sunny and cherish show share more and more wanted to be known as a single artist she was trying to kind of break away from Sonny and Cher and just be sure and one of her very first songs that did really well was Gypsies Tramps and thieves [Music] mama would do whatever he could so Gypsies Tramps and thieves as the name suggests it's this kind of rollicking story of these Outlaws it looks at all these kind of difficult touchy subjects and she just approaches them head-on and it really punctures that family friendly image and says look I'm an adult now I'm a grown-up I'm gonna sing about these things and I'm gonna talk about these things and whether she actually addressed them head-on doesn't really matter it was provocative enough that she was even mentioning these things [Music] all the men would come around and lay their money down we see a video of Cher looking beautiful in Sultry and long and languid as always and it kind of was the beginning of Cher removing herself and distancing herself from sunny the success of this record proved to the world that Cher was ready to establish herself she no longer needed Sunny by her side this hit was shortly followed by the release of Half Breed in 1973 which was another success [Music] [Music] said that I was quite by law the white man always called me Indians she got a chance to Brand herself away from sunny and she really really went for it in the video for Half Breed she's sitting on top of a horse the color of deep deep mahogany Tan in a teeny tiny bikini wearing just the hugest Native American headdress [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] she's no good Lord [Music] in 1974 Cher released dark lady with another creative music video the success kept coming solidifying a good solo career for her as much as she was underestimated in the past Cher's popularity was growing she goes on to Again Play upon that that kind of traveler's element of her father as a truck driver in the song Dark lady dark lady [Music] the real beginning of a solo career was a positive time for Cher her split from Sunny almost forgotten in the midst of her current achievements she had no time to think about her relationship falling apart carrying herself as the career driven woman she wanted the world to see she wasn't going to disappear again in 1974 Sunny filed for separation and a week later Cher filed for divorce she charged him with involuntary servitude for the way he had organized their finances now Sunny was very much the driving force behind this couple's Fame but he was also incredibly controlling Cher has said that um in terms of finances she didn't really pay attention and found out later that 95 went to Sunny and five percent went to the lawyers and she was virtually penniless she said that she could just never ever talk back to him and so that her needs weren't met unless they were also his needs and those were the only things that really mattered to him when Sonny and Cher decided to get divorced in 1975 I think the public took it very personally because Sonny and Cher had created this world this idea of this ideal marriage so people felt very very entrenched in their lives and and also invested in them so if something could go wrong with sunny and Cher's life what does that say about the rest of us and so their divorce was not only played out in the media but I think because they can literally came into people's living rooms week after week people took it as a personal thing this when they their marriage dissolved Sonny and Cher had a daughter Chastity who frequently appeared on the show in fact one of the famous skits on the show would be the three of them waving goodbye at the end [Music] I got you babe good night everybody God bless you [Applause] [Music] so Chastity was already famous in her own right um as a celebrity child and of course that was a factor in shares consideration of whether or not to leave Sunny however ultimately it became too much for her she says that she just walked in one day and said to him Sonny I'm done four days after finalizing her divorce Cher married rock legend Greg almond in Vegas but filed for divorce just nine days later due to his heroin and alcohol problems following on from her breakup with sunny in fact it was like a mere months after her divorce was Final from Sunny she married musician Greg Allman he was completely opposite to Sunny Sunny was very anti-drugs and Greg was all about drugs now this was a very painful subject for Cher because she had watched her dad disintegrate in a mess of addiction Cher was very anti-drug herself and so Greg was constantly doing drugs and it was a big problem in the relationship in fact they'd only been married a few weeks and they separated within a month the couple had reconciled the problems never went away despite the birth of their son Elijah has said in interviews she barely spent any time with him they were married several years and had a son Elijah but I think she said they were only ever together maybe six months because of his addiction issues and the fact that he would just disappear Greg was doing heroin which is again the drug her own dad did so she was again in the painful situation of loving someone who was in the throes of a very deep powerful addiction in early 1975 Cher landed her own variety show on television and the public was glad to have her back it was massively successful Cher has always been Larger than Life and she had these Bob Mackie designed costumes she has an incredible figure and she looked amazing I think for a long time Sunny gave her confidence but when their marriage broke down I think she had her own confidence by then and certainly when we see Cher solo on her own TV program we see her fly the share show also featured star-studded appearances from the likes of Tina Turner and the Jackson 5. [Music] I [Music] was much too late for me to give me one more chance [Music] in February 1976 after noting the success of Cher on TV again CBS attempted to relaunch the sunny and Cher show even though the famous couple had split sadly the magic was gone and the program appeared very awkward leading to it being canceled after two seasons Cher joined the Disco genre that was growing in popularity in the late 70s in 1979 she recorded another single take me home [Music] the song was her first top 10 hit in over five years after the painful moments of her personal life had been spread all over the press the release of this single reminded everyone of the share they loved and supported burying the past behind her in this year she also landed a show in Vegas where she proved to the world that she still got it she was offered a Vegas residency really and people say you know Cher was Vegas before Vegas was Vegas the feathers the showgirl costumes the personality the the Larger than Life Persona that was all share and now you know of course we associate all of that with Vegas but she was one of the early disruptors she was one of the people at the very beginning who was kind of living out loud and was not ever going to tone it down for anybody and I think Cher embodies what we picture when we think about Las Vegas because ultimately despite all of her stage fright insecurities and shyness she's a Showman [Music] here I am from 1982 to 1987 Cher focused on her film career intending to fulfill her new dream of being an actress Cher had always wanted to be an actress even from the very beginning when Sonny was nudging her towards recording she didn't want to be a singer she wanted to be an actress and that dream never died she landed a role in silkwood in 1983 alongside Meryl Streep and was nominated for an Academy Award and the Golden Globe for best supporting actress Cher went on to win the Golden Globe there's a great story that when the first trailer for silkwood came out in cinemas Cher knew where it was going to be and she went with her sister to see herself in the trailer and they played the trailer and they showed the name Mike Nichols they showed the name you know starring Meryl Streep and everyone went oh and they said starring Kurt Russell and people applauded and then it said and share and people started laughing because nobody understood why Cher was in a movie with Meryl Streep Cher was devastated by this she heard the laughter and I think that it was painful for her but she recognized that that's not how people saw her and if she was going to change their perception she had a lot of work to do people expected comedy from Cher and she was also co-starring with Kurt Russell who is used to these action films to have them in this serious serious film is this Testament to how sincere the film was and that rubbed off one share Cher then appeared in the film Moonstruck in 1987 and one and Academy Award for this performance much to her surprise Moonstruck is a wonderful rom-com and Cher plays the lead opposite a young Nicholas Cage she has got brilliant comic timing and her and Olympia Dukakis who plays her mother who is only about 15 years older than her at the time which must have been a strange thing to to reconcile between the two of them they've got this wonderful interplay they talk back to each other a lot and it's a it's it's a love letter to New York as well and it really hits it off with audiences it was it's a real feel-good film what snap out of it I'm confused they say there's nothing new Under the Sun [Music] [Applause] but under the moon that's another story you love him Loretta Ma I love him awful oh God that's too bad this secured her position in the acting World demonstrating her passion and skill for movies and facing her critics that thought she was a joke for trying to pursue other avenues of showbiz she is a brilliant actress and I think for her winning the Academy Award was one of the greatest moments of her life in fact she did say herself the first two most important moments of my life were my kids being born but this was certainly the third so for Cher the Oscar was recognition of a lifelong dream which was to be taken seriously as an actress [Applause] and and I don't think that this means that I am somebody but I guess I'm on my way thank you I can't think of anyone else who managed to go from that kind of Comedy background so quickly into sincere acting and then got a nomination for it we've seen it since Lady Gaga through A Star is Born but this one is so much more about real life people and to bring that to light was an incredible job for sure to have done she was making a name for herself and breaking out of her innocent hippie girl image from her initial success alongside Sonny Bono I think people know that I'm trying you know I think people know that I'm always working on it and uh and I don't you know and I'm I have a modicum of talent you know I survive I think that's what people like it's what I I like about people is that they survive you know I watch Gregory Peck and Olivia de Havilland walk out there I would stand just for the fact they've been able to stay alive in this business for as long as they have during an appearance on the David Letterman show in 1987 Sonny and Cher were reunited and performed I got you babe for the last time [Applause] they say we're young [Music] we all grow I don't know if all that's true cause you got me and baby I got you [Music] baby I Got You Babe after a successful run in Hollywood Cher decided it was time to go back to her roots and released her 19th studio album Heart of Stone this would be her third musical comeback with a colossal hit If I Could Turn Back Time following on from her success in Moonstruck Cher decided that she wanted to go back to singing she wanted to do something great she wanted a dance song she wanted something really powerful and then of course we saw If I Could Turn Back Time she has always looked absolutely fantastic but for her to come come along with it if I Could Turn Back Time video looking absolutely exceptional wearing this basically a v of leotard that barely barely covers her straddling a huge huge cannon with this big huge hair in this sexy leather jacket she looked incredible she was in her mid-40s by that point and it worked absolute wonders sometimes [Music] probably I didn't want to see you go I know [Music] so here you have share a woman who's very famous for her stage fright who has the guts to get up there after 40 and basically a see-through thong outfit and gyrate and dance through on a ship full of sailors she has so much brassiness and confidence in this video and I think that electrified her fans it was great to see her owning her sexuality owning her confidence owning everything and this was the beginning of Cher's big comeback on the music scene please [Music] this success led her to return to touring in 1990 after a 10-year absence this worldwide tour took its toll however as shortly after Cher got very sick as sure was approaching 50 she started to feel really unwell she had accomplished so much you know she'd had an Oscar she'd had numerous Awards she'd had numerous hit albums she was a single mom to two kids and she was tired in retrospect she knows that she'd burned out her journals completely and she had chronic fatigue syndrome but at the time doctors didn't really know much about that so there wasn't much help available she was in kind of a Wilderness for a little while of health problems constant aches and pains and her career was faltering again as we've seen in many points in her life this could have very easily been the end of Cher but like we know about Cher there's always a comeback after many years out of the spotlight the Press wondered if she'd be able to make another successful comeback or mad she finally disappeared into the background on January 5th 1998 Sonny Bono died suddenly in a skiing accident Cher was informed whilst in London by her daughter Chasity who also encouraged her to give the eulogy speech at Sonny's funeral when Sonny died obviously Cher was completely heartbroken this was someone who was so fundamental to her life this was the father of one of her children there was a it was a huge huge emotional blow for her and it was so sudden for him as well Sonny's death hit her hard I think harder than she expected and definitely harder than everyone else might have expected given how acrimonious the divorce was but clearly she loved him clearly she had always loved him and clearly she had never stopped loving him some people thought that the sun wasn't very bright but he was smart enough to take an introverted 16 year old girl and a scrappy little Italian guy with a bad voice and turn them into the most successful and beloved couple of this generation her very famous eulogy at Sonny's funeral had her saying you know very obviously moved and upset that of all the people she'd ever known he had had the most impact unfortunately she got criticism people were suggesting that this was a publicity stunt that this was a cynical attempt to get back into the public eye she was going to be in the public eye no matter what and she wanted to pay her respects to him in the best way she knew how the last thing I want to say is when I was young there was this section in the Reader's Digest and it was called the most unforgettable character I've ever met and for me that person is Sonny Bono and no matter how long ago I need in my life that person will always be for me thank you Cher began to recognize the contribution he'd made in her life and I think after his death she clearly recognize and acknowledge the role that he'd played in shaping who she was I think there were things left unsaid between them and I think you could tell from Cher's grief at the funeral that there were expressions of emotions she wished she'd had the opportunity and think she'd wish she could have said 1998 was also the year in which Cher released her 22nd studio album Believe with a hit single of the same name the song feign for its pioneering use of auto-tune arguably became one of the top gay anthems on the planet from this record share won a Grammy for Best Dance song recording I believe in Europe actually it's uh yeah I don't know it's just it was really it came on the chart at number one so it was it it just wasn't hard it just was so it was just so easy from the get-go this is we're working it here I mean it's just starting to happen right now so at that age we'd never quite seen a pop star speeding up and her music sped up and she came out with belief which is this huge big pop-tastic emphatic song full of all this vakoda which we hadn't heard that much before [Music] pushing me aside and I can't break through there's no trouble [Music] and it's one of the first times that autotune is used in such a dramatic commercial and international breakthrough sort of way believe becomes an Anthem that everybody knows it so much to the point that auto-tune becomes known as the share effect and you have again here's a woman who easily could have been washed away by time but is no instead again come back for yet another reinvention as almost robotic Timeless automated share in a lot of sort of ways and again there's this whole idea that shares so well known for her physical manifestations changing over and over again in this instance even her vocal manner is changed by an actual computer [Music] [Applause] I can feel something let me say I really don't think you're strong enough [Music] she looks like the future for someone who's come all this way from the past she still looks like the future and that's part of the magic of that song in June 2002 Cher embarked on living proof the farewell tour announced as the final live concert tour of her career she thought I'm gonna wind down now I'm going to play them all the hits I'm going to give them what they're asking for but the more and more she got used to touring the more she realized it was manageable and enjoyable and the fans loved it it was making a load of money why not carry on it became the most successful Tour Ever by a woman and was extended several times earning 250 million a share comes out she does more costume changes than Britney Spears would she is all the energy doing all the dance moves it's over two hours long she has all the vibrato of someone that is literally a third of her age and it was absolutely inspirational to watch it and to look at the crowd of people that was there you know it's quite stereotypical to be like oh it's going to be women in Gays it was everybody it was people that grown up with Cher bringing their kids and their grandkids it was gay guys it was straight couples all different colors and Creeds and there's so few artists that can unite an audience in that sort of way and it was really you know I'm glad it went on for as long as it did because it hopefully allowed those kinds of experiences to happen for lots of people around the globe Cher was no stranger to being in public eye however in 2009 it wasn't her who suffered the brutality of the tabloids Cher's then-daughter Chastity revealed she was transgender following her coming out as gay in 1995. Sheriff famously did not react well when her daughter Chastity came out to her as a lesbian part of the problem was that Chastity had come out to really almost everyone else before Cher she'd come out to her grandmother she had come out to other close friends and she had even come out to her father Sunny before she told her mom so Cher says that one of the reasons her reaction was so awful is that she was so hurt that her daughter didn't feel like she could tell her or trust her with that information from Chastity's side you know she says I just was afraid of disappointing you share wasn't really understanding of it she didn't quite know how to get to grips with her only daughter being a lesbian she had these really really traditional views and and over the years Cher has learned so much more about acceptance and so when Chastity came out as Chaz and decided to transition Cher was a hell of a lot more accepting and understanding that her child deserves happiness and deserves to be who he is Chastity began a transition taking the name Chas Bono recording his transition for his own documentary about being transgender initially Cher struggled with the idea of losing her daughter but quickly realized that this was what was best for Chaz to feel comfortable in his skin it was a painful time in their relationship I think Cher has many regrets about how she handled it certainly and I think she's been open about that but you know everyone makes mistakes and I think the open and honest dialogue and conversation we've seen from Cher Ann Chastity or Chas as he goes by now has actually helped to further the conversation for lesbian and gays who are coming out to their parents and I think shares Candor and honesty about how badly she handled it has actually helped other parents to know what to do after a few quiet years Cher made her on-screen comeback with the 2010 film or less in which she starred alongside fellow pop icon Christina Aguilera [Music] what is she doing up there I think she's auditioning hey Dave cook and I can do this and it's sweet that you think so so just tell me what you want I can't tell you nobody can tell you you gotta make me believe that you belong on that stage that it's yours and that nobody can take it from you now you want to show me something show me that Christina is really sweet and I think she's good in this film and she worked she worked herself to death I never saw anybody work so hard you know all the you know Kristen Bell is great and Peter Gallagher I mean everyone in in the film I I admire the performances and there's there's a real sense that Cher is kind of handing the bats on dancer down to Christina and the singing's wonderful and the dancing is great as well she fit into her roll on screen as if she had never left once again the public were in awe of Cher's talents the movie was a worldwide success with a popular soundtrack featuring songs recorded by Cher and Aguilera I mean you've obviously got offered and done the most fantastic roles how do you choose your roles now is it the character is it what you can do with the character well you know this I really wanted to do this one because of of singing you know I'm not the character she was okay and and I understand her you know and and she's a nice she's a nice character she's nothing it's not a stretch but I think that she's enjoyable you know I think she's a fun person has got a lot of interesting quirks and so that's kind of how I choose it but I really wanted to sing that's what I wanted to do 2018 saw Cher returning to the big screen once again as it was revealed that she would appear in Mamma Mia here we go again we don't see a lot of Cher these days she's active on Twitter she's great on Twitter but mostly she's out of the spotlight and then of course we saw her in Mamma Mia the sequel oh my god I've decided to commit to being a grandmother Grandma you weren't invited that's the best kind of party little girl rarely did she get to be blonde in film so I know that Cher always had a secret desire to be blonde she has said so I think that would have been fun for her it was sort of an inside joke because she was playing Meryl Streep's mother and they're really not that um different in age first of all you know I won that war but that's like Merrell told me once you go to movies to win Awards or just get them afterwards if you're lucky it was it was just the best it was the best experience I had making a movie with the greatest people you know it was it was it was so easy it was like it was just so easy that none of us thought it could possibly be any good Cher is 72 and she looks incredible so it was amazing to see her take a role on that was So Glamorous at the stage in her life in this same year the share show also made its Broadway debut the musical is now a Tony award-winning show about Cher's career in stardom it shows the three stages of her life with three separate actresses portraying her some of the most important people in Cher's life as well as her most memorable moments have been translated to the stage for audiences to understand and learn things they may never have known about her Infamous career and personality when you look at the actors in this play they are so brilliant and that's what I'm looking most for you know I'm I've seen them before but every time I see them they're so amazing no one could do it better [Applause] I don't know [Music] [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I've had huge losses I've had great successes I've been so lucky and um but I've had I do think that the thing about huge losses it just makes you keep going and I and I feel like a bumper car because if I go and I hit a you know a block wall I just go back and then I just go in another Direction and and what I would want for you girls and what I would want for everyone and especially women is that that you don't take no for an answer because no is just some [ __ ] word that someone made up you know at 72 Cher is the perfect example of everything that is hot and current whilst being lasting and timeless no matter how many times the industry tries to erase her she makes a historical comeback proving that she's still got it and that age is just a number Cher is beyond iconic she is a one named Superstar everyone knows who she is she's immediately recognizable with just four letters she has a booming incredible personality and voice and she has overcome so much to get where she is she's outrageous she's come she's exciting she works really really hard there's so many brilliant things about Cher and her ability to stand the test of time has become this huge snowball that itself is a Marvel to behold with a consistently positive attitude towards life despite the struggles she faced Cher will always remain a legend every time it seems like Cher's not going to be cool anymore she comes back as something else and that I think especially for a woman is very very rare and very very aspirational everything from celebrated hits Oscar winning performances tours Broadway sellouts extravagant hairstyles to iconic looks Cher has secured her Legacy as one of the brightest stars that Hollywood has ever seen [Music] thank you

Channel: Crackle Celebrity Insider

Views: 52,681

Keywords: cher, cher documentary, cher music, cher now, cher life in the spotlight, cher life in the spotlight 2019, cher life in the spotlight full movie, cher life in the spotlight movie, cher life in the spotlight full, cher greatest hits, cher interviews, cher documentary free full, cher full documentary, cher movie, cher biopic, cher biopic full movie, if i could turn back time, cher biography, cher christmas, cher christmas album, cher bono, cher bono allman, cherilyn sarkisian

Id: WfKe39cSl7k

Length: 57min 18sec (3438 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 19 2023