UPFRONT/THE A LIST
5 Life Lessons From Cher
1 Be Heard
Growing up, I assumed everybody sang. My grandfather and uncle played guitar, and my mom and I would sing. When Sonny [Bono, her future husband] and I first lived together, we were just friends, and I needed a place to crash. He was in the music business. One time he came home and I was singing in the bedroom. He stuck his head in the doorway and said, “Is that you? You sing?” He was astounded, and I was surprised that he was astounded.
2 Find Your People
I didn’t feel my heritage growing up. But I did feel it when I went to visit Armenia after the Berlin Wall came down. Armenians were being displaced and even killed by Azerbaijanis. This older man said, “Cher, please tell the Americans about us.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that America was not going to help.
3 Ignore Your Age
My mom used to say that if you don’t pay attention to age, it won’t pay attention to you. I’m aware of getting older and I don’t like it, but it doesn’t stop me. When Alexander [Edwards, her boyfriend] took me to an Usher concert, I was bopping around and we were dancing. I feel different than I did 20 years ago, but I don’t feel old.
“It never gets easier to be in a relationship. I may be older, but I’m never going to be grounded. I’m more weathered maybe.”
4 Let Love In
It was an accident. After we met in 2022, we started texting. He later said, “I think I was in love with you after the third text.” At first I kept saying, “We don’t want to do this. You shouldn’t be doing this, and I don’t want to.” He was only 36—way too young. But he’s very stubborn, and he just didn’t see it my way.
5 Persist
Someone said that after an atomic war, “there would only be cockroaches and Cher left.” I never expected to be here now, still doing what I’m doing. There were times I thought, I can’t live through this, I can’t come back from this, nothing will ever happen again. The trick is you can’t give up. When you hit a wall, back up and go in another direction. For my 2023 album, Christmas, my vocal coach brought me back from the dead, not for the first time. I just keep working. —As told to Edna Gundersen
Cher, 77, is a Grammy-winning singer, Oscar-winning actress, fashion icon and pop culture phenomenon. She has an album, memoir and biopic in the pipeline.