Cher says her mother wanted to put Sonny Bono 'in jail' because of their 11-year age-gap relationship
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- Cher says her mother wasn't pleased when she started dating Sonny Bono, who was 11 years older.
- The "Believe" singer told "CBS Sunday Morning" that she "lied to him a few times" about her age.
- These days, Cher prefers younger men: She has a 40-year age gap with her current partner, Alexander Edwards.
There's at least one person who didn't initially approve of Cher's age-gap relationship with Sonny Bono — her mother.
During an interview with Anthony Mason on "CBS Sunday Morning" on Sunday, Cher spoke about how her relationship with Bono — who was 11 years older than her — started when she was still underage.
The "Believe" singer first met Bono at a coffee shop in the early 1960s and she lied to him about her age, she said.
"I lied to him a few times. I told him I was 18, and then someone said, 'You know, I don't think she's 18.' So I said, 'OK, I'm not 18 but next month is my birthday' — which was true — 'and I'm going to be 18,'" Cher told Mason, recounting her words.
"He said OK, and then I was 17. And my mom told him she was going to put him in jail," Cher said.
Her first meeting with Bono left a huge impression on her, she said.
"I thought it was like when Tony met Maria," Cher said, referencing the main characters of "West Side Story."
While it wasn't "love at first sight," it was "something" that she "never felt" before, she said: "I mean, everybody disappeared and it was just the two of us. But he didn't like me."
Even though Bono didn't find her attractive initially, their relationship eventually blossomed, she said.
Cher married Bono in 1964, and soon, they started performing together. Their child, Chaz Bono, was born in 1969, and the couple divorced in 1975.
Looking back on their relationship, Cher says that their 11-year age gap never felt strange.
"He was kind of childish. He got to be real with me because I didn't expect anything. I didn't want money, I didn't think about anything, you know. And all these other women that were his age, they wanted him to be grown up," Cher said.
These days, Cher — now 78 — prefers dating younger men.
"And the reason why I go out with young men is because men my age or older — well, now they're all dead — but before, they just never, they were always terrified to approach me," Cher said on "The Jennifer Hudson Show" in May.
The singer has been in a relationship with music exec Alexander Edwards since 2022. They have a 40-year age gap.
Cher isn't the only celebrity in an age-gap relationship. Others include Dick Van Dyke and Arlene Silver, who have a 46-year gap, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, who have a 12-year gap, and Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, who have an 11-year gap.
In March, on "The View," Whoopi Goldberg said that she once dated a man who was 40 years older than her. In that same episode, her cohost Joy Behar said that it's "scientifically smart" for women to date younger men because they'll have similar lifespans.
A representative for Cher said that the singer did not have any further comment.