Cher Opens Up About Her Troubled Marriage to Sonny Bono in New Memoir

Cher, the legendary singer and actress, is revealing personal details about her marriage to Sonny Bono in her new book, Cher: The Memoir, Part 1. While the duo became famous as Sonny & Cher, their relationship behind the scenes was far from picture-perfect.

In her memoir, Cher describes feeling deeply unhappy and trapped in what she calls a "loveless marriage." She admitted to feeling so lonely that she often thought about taking drastic steps to escape. According to People, Cher wrote, "I was dizzy with loneliness. For a few crazy minutes, I couldn't imagine any other option. I did this five or six times."

Despite these dark moments, Cher said thoughts of her loved ones, including her child Chaz Bono, her mother Georgia, and her sister Georganne, kept her from acting on these feelings. She explained that she didn’t want to set a harmful example for those who looked up to her.

Cher eventually realized there was another way out. While in Las Vegas, she had a breakthrough: "I don’t have to jump off. I can just leave him."

The couple divorced in 1975 after 11 years of marriage. Cher and Sonny met in 1963 when she was just 16 years old and he was 27.

Cher has since shared that Bono’s treatment of her during their marriage hurt deeply, but she found peace after he apologized years later. “One day, he came into the kitchen at my house and said, ‘Cher, I want to apologize. I realized that I hurt you in so many ways, and I was wrong,’” she recalled. “That went a long way for me.”

Sonny Bono passed away in 1998 after a tragic skiing accident.

Cher’s memoir offers a candid look at her life, her struggles, and how she overcame them, giving fans a deeper understanding of the iconic star.