In her new memoir, Cher recalls a dark moment in her “loveless marriage” to Sonny Bono when she considered jumping off the balcony of her Las Vegas hotel room (via People).
The incident occurred in 1972, three years after Cher and Bono officially wed. (Cher was 16 and Bono 27 when they met in 1962; they had an unofficial wedding ceremony in 1964.) At the time, the couple was wildly popular thanks to their numerous hit songs and their smash variety TV show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. But professional success did not bring personal fulfillment.
Cher describes Bono as controlling in the book, writing that she began to feel “trapped” in their marriage. Standing on the balcony of her Vegas hotel, then just 26-years-old, Cher recalled: “I was dizzy with loneliness. I saw how easy it would be to step over the edge and simply disappear. For a few crazy minutes I couldn’t imagine any other option. I did this five or six times.”
Cher said thoughts of her family kept her from going through with it, as well as the concern that “things like this could make people who look up to me feel that it’s a viable solution.” Cher also said her experience in Vegas led her to a particularly important realization.
“I don’t have to jump off,” she wrote. “I can just leave him.” (Cher and Bono separated not long after, filed for divorce in 1974, and finalized the split the following year.)
Cher’s new memoir — succinctly titled Cher, The Memoir: Part One — arrives today, Nov. 19. The book covers her early life as Cherilyn Sarkisian through her rise to fame and relationship with Bono. Part two of the memoir is expected to be published next year.
Last night, Cher appeared on The Tonight Show, where she spoke about her experience writing the book, admitting, “It was a bitch. It’s not going through your life that’s hard so much. But I did it a couple of times because the first time it didn’t work out. The second time I just didn’t want to tell anything. And then I thought, ‘You know what? Give back the money.’ It’s hard because when you’re telling your life there’s parts you’d like to guard.”
The recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee also confirmed she had some new music on the way. Near the end of the interview, Jimmy Fallon asked if she would do another album, and Cher replied, “I’m about to.”
Dial 988 in the US to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The Trevor Project, which provides help and suicide-prevention resources for LGBTQ youth, is 1-866-488-7386. Find other international suicide helplines at Befrienders Worldwide (befrienders.org).
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