Cher shares thoughtful approach to writing about trans son Chaz Bono in memoir, got his ‘blessing’
Cher shares her thoughtful approach to writing about her transgender son, Chaz Bono, in her new memoir, saying she got his “blessing” to use his deadname, Chastity.
“I refer to my son Chaz as Chas, the name he went by during the years covered in this book,” the “Believe” singer writes in a note at the beginning of “Cher: The Memoir, Part One.”
“Chaz has granted his blessing for this usage,” she shares. “In the next volume, at the appropriate point, I will refer to my son as Chaz.”
Bono, whom Cher shared with her late ex-husband Sonny Bono, famously began his transition in 2008 ahead of his 40th birthday and legally changed his name and gender in 2010.
The “If I Could Turn Back Time” singer, 78, has admitted that it was a big adjustment for her.
“It wasn’t easy,” she told CNN in 2020. “I remember calling, and the old [voicemail] message … was on the phone, and that was very difficult.”
However, Cher, who has been an icon to the LGBTQIA+ community for decades, ultimately came around.
“You don’t really lose them. They just are in a different shape,” she explained of trans people during the interview, adding that Chaz, now 55, was “so unbelievably happy.”
The first part of the Goddess of Pop’s memoir hits bookstores Tuesday, tracing her childhood, marriage to Sonny, who died in a 1998 skiing accident, and early music career.
HarperCollins Publishers previously said the second volume was expected sometime in 2025, but Cher confessed to the New York Times Sunday that she has not even started writing it yet.
“[Part one] exhausted me,” she said. “It took a lot out of me.”
The “Moonstruck” star is also the mother of son Elijah Blue Allman, 48, with her second ex-husband, Gregg Allman, who died of liver cancer in 2017.
