Books

Cher Says Ex-Husband Sonny Bono ‘Took All My Money’ in New Memoir

TURN BACK TIME

Their singing and TV partnership wasn’t equitable, she says.

Cher
CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images

Cher was financially deceived by her then-husband, Sonny Bono, the legendary singer reveals in the first volume of her memoir.

“He took all my money,” the 78-year-old told The New York Times in an interview about the book, adding that she was not immediately aware of her financial situation and that she trusted Bono at the time.

“I just thought, ‘We’re husband and wife. Half the things are his, half the things are mine.’ It didn’t occur to me that there was another way.”

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“To this day, I wish to God I could just ask, ‘Son, at what point, during what day, did you go, ‘Yeah, you know what? I’m going to take her money,‘” she added.

Cher was 16 when she first met 27-year-old Bono, according to the Times. The pair eventually became a couple and they married in 1964. They divorced in 1975. Bono died in 1998 in a skiing accident in South Lake Tahoe, California.

In her book, Cher also describes how Bono limited her social life, including not allowing her to hang out with other band members.

She also delves into other life matters, including how she still works with her 96-year-old voice teacher.

“You’re not really supposed to be able to sing at this age,” she told the Times. “I’ve been singing my whole life. It will make me sad the day I can’t.”

Writing her self-titled memoir “exhausted me,” she said. Part 2 is expected some time in 2025.