{"id":69834,"date":"2023-12-02T13:55:53","date_gmt":"2023-12-02T13:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/likecelebwn.com\/?p=69834"},"modified":"2023-12-02T13:55:53","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T13:55:53","slug":"cher-77-reveals-how-boyfriends-diamond-teeth-led-to-their-romance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/likecelebwn.com\/lifestyle\/cher-77-reveals-how-boyfriends-diamond-teeth-led-to-their-romance\/","title":{"rendered":"Cher, 77, reveals how boyfriend's diamond teeth led to their romance"},"content":{"rendered":"
When I arrive to meet Cher at her suite in the opulent Peninsula Paris hotel it is humming with her vast entourage: PR teams, record-company executives, make-up artists \u2013 even assistants to put on her wigs.<\/p>\n
The night before at an industry event to hear her new Christmas album, she introduced her boyfriend of a year, Alexander Edwards, a music executive four decades her junior, to the small crowd. She explained he had produced one track on the album and how thrilled she was with all the songs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cher says: ‘Alexander gave me this [points to a triangle-shaped diamond ring on her middle finger]. We are not gonna be married, but he gave me this ring to show how he feels about me.’<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cher onstage at the Soul Together benefit concert for the Martin Luther King Foundation, Madison Square Garden, New York, 1968<\/p>\n
The next day when I meet her, Cher is sitting under bright studio lights wearing a flamboyant red wig and a black sparkly trouser suit, and an unexpected exchange tells me straight away that this will be no bland, cold Hollywood interview. \u2018I love your trousers! They\u2019re very cool! Who are they by?\u2019 she asks, examining my wide-legged pinstripes. \u2018Oh, thank you, these are just from Cos,\u2019 I reply.<\/p>\n
\u2018Cos? What\u2019s Cos?\u2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cher wearing a Bob Mackie creation, 1978<\/p>\n
Promising I\u2019ll send Cher a link for the trousers, I sit down opposite her.<\/p>\n
The first thing to report is that, at 77, Cher doesn\u2019t have a wrinkle on her face. She\u2019s had that \u2018good work\u2019 done that very few, very wealthy people manage to pull off. But that\u2019s just one of the secrets of her amazing 60-year career as I discover when I put my questions to her\u2026<\/p>\n
Where\u2019s home?<\/span><\/p>\n Malibu \u2013 it\u2019s a wonderful place. I live overlooking the Pacific Ocean and everywhere you look there are views of the sea. It\u2019s a beautiful property. I was very lucky to find it 21 years ago and I built and decorated the entire place from scratch.<\/p>\n What is a normal day like for you?<\/span><\/p>\n When I\u2019m at home, I get up early, around 6 or 7am. If Alexander [Cher\u2019s 37-year-old boyfriend] is over, we have a coffee together outside on the veranda. We talk and he entertains me because he\u2019s so funny. Afterwards, I go downstairs and work out because that\u2019s what I have always done. If it\u2019s not a busy work day I go and see friends or invite them over, just regular stuff.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sonny & Cher, 1967\u00a0<\/p>\n Who are your closest friends?<\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s Laurie Lynn Stark, co-owner of Chrome Hearts [a luxury Hollywood lifestyle brand], and Loree Rodkin, a jewellery designer, who I\u2019ve known for a million years. My sister Georganne and I have a new friend from Russia, Masha Adonyeva [a businesswoman, philanthropist and art collector]. And of course, I am godmother \u2013 and fairy godmother \u2013 to so many.<\/p>\n Do yo<\/span>u ever do normal things like clothes shopping?<\/span><\/p>\n Sometimes, but I\u2019m not the crazy shopping woman I used to be. I got used to dressing down more when I lived in New York. You can wear anything there, nobody cares. Now when I\u2019m just hanging out, I\u2019m a bum in sweatpants.<\/p>\n How do you stay young?<\/span><\/p>\n I like life, I am having a good time, I\u2019m very lucky. I don\u2019t really drink and I don\u2019t smoke. My friends are always saying, \u2018Cher, you\u2019re a stick-in-the-mud \u2013 have a glass of champagne.\u2019 I had two glasses a couple of nights ago because they were teasing me. It was fine, but I don\u2019t particularly like the taste of it. I smoked when I was young but gave it up after I got pregnant with my son and never picked it up again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cher in 1965, the year of \u2018I Got You Babe\u2019<\/p>\n How did you and Alexander meet?<\/span><\/p>\n It was during Paris Fashion Week last year. My Turkish friend Nebie saw his teeth [which are diamond-studded] and said, \u2018Cher, go ask him about them.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n I said, \u2018No, you ask, Nebie!\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018No, you ask him, Cher!\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n I finally did and said, \u2018Beautiful grill you\u2019ve got.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018These are my real teeth,\u2019 he replied.<\/p>\n \u2018Whoah \u2013 you\u2019re committed to have them drilled!\u2019 I said.<\/p>\n He got my number from a mutual friend after I left. Then I went to Germany for two weeks and he was texting me the whole time. I like the way he makes me feel. He has so many qualities \u2013 he\u2019s intelligent, kind, funny and very talented.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cher\u00a0with her boyfriend, music executive Alexander Edwards, earlier this year<\/p>\n What have been your favourite moments in your music career?<\/span><\/p>\n Performing our first big song, \u2018I Got You Babe\u2019, with Sonny, doing the Sonny & Cher TV show [1971-74] and then I had my own show, Cher<\/span>, [1975-76]. I really enjoyed doing that.<\/p>\n After Sonny and I broke up in 1975, I wasn\u2019t looking forward to going on the road by myself because I had always been a duo. To be Cher without Sonny seemed impossible. Post Sonny, I got dropped by my manager because I made an album and it wasn\u2019t very good. But later on Rob Dickins of Warner UK picked me up and I made my album Believe<\/span>, in 1998.<\/p>\n That was a huge turning point in my life. When I was putting my own show and songs together, only then did I begin to feel myself. People used to make fun of how extravagant my performances were, but now everyone is doing it.<\/p>\n What is your career advice for aspiring performers?<\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t give up. I had so many people telling me every year that I was finished. You just have to keep going. I always think of myself as a bumper car: I\u2019ll hit a wall, but then I\u2019ll back up and go in a different direction. You always have to be prepared to step out of your comfort zone, always, always. I have failed so many times in my life, but I keep going.<\/p>\n Cher with her mother Georgia Holt in 2010; with her children Chaz Bono (right) and Elijah Blue Allman (left), 1980<\/p>\n How did your movie career begin?<\/span><\/p>\n While I was doing a play in New York in the early 1980s, Mike Nichols, the film director, came to see a matinee. Later, backstage, he asked if I\u2019d like to make a movie with him and Meryl Streep. It was lucky timing because I had no other work lined up. Silkwood<\/span> [1983, for which she was Oscar-nominated] happened, and then my movie career slowly took off from there. I made a lifelong friend in Meryl. My other favourite co-stars were Nicolas Cage [Moonstruck<\/span>, 1987] and Jack Nicholson [The Witches of Eastwick<\/span>, 1987]. Jack\u2019s wonderful \u2013 we\u2019ve been friends for so long and he is always hilarious.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve been both, so \u2013 blonde or brunette?<\/span><\/p>\n When I was a teenager I couldn\u2019t find any brunette role models. All the Hollywood actresses were blonde. My mother was blonde, my sister was blonde. When I did Mask<\/span>, the movie [1985], I cut my hair and they made me dye it, which was so dumb. Dying black hair red is not a good thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Afterwards, I cut my hair short and dyed it blonde because it was so damaged, and I discovered men were much nicer to you when you were blonde. If you were a brunette and asked for something, they\u2019d say, \u2018It\u2019s over there.\u2019 If you were blonde they would say, \u2018Oh, let me walk you to where it is.\u2019 Crazy!<\/p>\n What have you learnt from marriage?<\/span><\/p>\n Sonny Bono and I were married a long time, but we had quite a strange marriage because it was so integrated with our work. That was rough. It was great while we were working \u2013 because I was so much younger than him, I\u2019d always do as I was told. I met him when he was 28 and I was just 16. I mean, that would not be allowed now.<\/p>\n In the beginning, Sonny and I were just roommates. He heard me singing one afternoon when I was making the beds and thought it was the radio. My whole family used to sing songs when we got together. I thought it was what every family did.<\/p>\n He told his boss Phil Spector about me and he asked me to fill in as a background singer. Sonny and I started out performing in awful tacky nightclubs because we couldn\u2019t get any other gigs and we were broke, broke, broke. Took a solid year for us to claw our way up to playing the more prestigious hotel chains like the Fairmont.\u00a0<\/p>\n From that, we got the Sonny & Cher show. If I hadn\u2019t met Sonny there would never have been a Cher. I was just this young chick with all this insane energy that wasn\u2019t channelled in any direction.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cher\u00a0with our writer Joanne Hegarty<\/p>\n Would you marry again?<\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t think so. Not because I wouldn\u2019t love someone enough \u2013 I just don\u2019t think I need to be married. Alexander gave me this [points to a triangle-shaped diamond ring on her middle finger]. We are not gonna be married, but he gave me this ring to show how he feels about me.<\/p>\n Is being rich and famous all it\u2019s cracked <\/span>up to be?<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s great, but it\u2019s not everything. It can\u2019t make you happy, but it can make you happier. It makes things exciting. But, you know, I have been very poor and it\u2019s much better not to have to worry about money. I had to worry about money a lot in my career. I left Sonny with nothing and had to start all over again.<\/p>\n Do you ever get tired of being a celebrity?<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been outside when I wasn\u2019t famous, so I do know what it\u2019s like out there. I go where I want to go, but I don\u2019t want to go to that many places now. I don\u2019t go to Hollywood parties any more. I\u2019m not doing the red carpet. Now I just like hanging out with my friends. I work when I do because I still love doing it and I really want people to hear this new album. I was a little worried because I hadn\u2019t sung in ages. The last time was just before Covid.<\/p>\n Your mum [singer-songwriter and actress Georgia Holt] died last year at 96. You must miss her?<\/span><\/p>\n Yes, but she was getting really sick and I\u2019m happy she isn\u2019t suffering any more. She had lots of heart problems. We were close, but our relationship went through phases when we weren\u2019t. Never boring. But sometimes it was rough. We both were strong women. She lived down the street from me. I remember one time walking up to her house and seeing her on top of the roof.<\/p>\n I shouted, \u2018What are you doing up there?\u2019<\/p>\n She replied, \u2018Some shingles [tiles] fell down, so I got a hammer and nails and I\u2019m putting them back up.\u2019<\/p>\n My mum was balls-to-the-wall, really tough, and the most beautiful woman I ever saw. She was great, but she was nuts and she could have a terrible temper. She had a tough upbringing. She didn\u2019t have a mom. Her father was an alcoholic and she lived in Skid Row in LA, a real bottom-of-the-barrel place.<\/p>\n Growing up, I didn\u2019t have a strong sense of self or confidence. I was dyslexic and did badly in school, but she always told me I was special: \u2018You have to trust me on this,\u2019 she would say.<\/p>\n Was it difficult growing up without a <\/span>father figure?<\/span><\/p>\n I met my father [truck driver John Sarkisian] when I was 11. It was always myself, my mum and my sister \u2013 we were the nucleus. I\u2019m sure it would\u2019ve been better to have had a father figure, but if you don\u2019t have something you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re missing.<\/p>\n Sonny was a great father to my children Chaz [Cher and Sonny\u2019s child, who underwent female-to-male gender transition between 2008 and 2010] and Elijah [Cher\u2019s son with ex-husband, musician Gregg Allman]. And Sonny and I managed to remain friends.<\/p>\n What has motherhood taught you?<\/span><\/p>\n That I\u2019m not the only person in the world. I was the centre of my universe, but when Chaz was born in 1969, it was so exciting. I always had someone to play with. We brought her along to the dives we used to perform in when she was just six weeks old. She was my new best friend. I always wanted to be a mother, but nothing prepares you for it. And you never stop worrying about [children], not ever. I mean, my mum was still calling us \u2018the kids\u2019 before she died. You always try to be a mother to them, even if they want you to stay out of it. But sometimes you just can\u2019t. They\u2019re still your kids.<\/p>\n Cher\u2019s album Christmas <\/span>is out now on Warner\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Do you cook on the big day?<\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t cook myself. Usually, whoever is around ends up coming to my house for Christmas and Christmas dinner and we do all the normal things: turkey and mashed potatoes and whatever vegetables. The food is on an island in the kitchen and everyone serves themselves and we are loud and rowdy. Just a regular Christmas. We swap presents \u2013 I am a great gift giver. I really think about the person when I\u2019m shopping.<\/p>\n How did you celebrate as a child?<\/span><\/p>\n We were poor but my mum was amazing at Christmas. She could really pull it out of the bag. We always had a tree. I was the one who put the tinsel on because I was the only one who could do it \u2013 my sister would just plonk it on. Usually, it was just the three of us, sometimes my aunt would join. My mum made the dinner and we opened presents and sang songs.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 1946<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Cherilyn Sarkisian is born in El Centro, California. Her mother, Georgia Holt, is a former model and retired actress; her father, John Sarkisian, an Armenian-American truck driver. Within ten months her parents are divorced. Cher won\u2019t see her father again until she is 11.<\/p>\n 1962<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n A 16-year-old Cher meets Sonny Bono in a club on Sunset Strip.<\/p>\n 1965<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The duo begin releasing music as Sonny & Cher. Their debut single \u2018I Got You Babe\u2019 goes to number one in both the US and the UK. They go on to chart five songs in the top 50 at the same time, an achievement equalled only by Elvis Presley and the Beatles.<\/p>\n 1969<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Cher gives birth to her first child, Chaz Bono. Her second, Elijah Blue Allman, is born seven years later.<\/p>\n 1971<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour<\/span> premieres. The Emmy-award-winning show is watched by more than 30 million viewers across its three-year run. It wraps in 1974 with the couple\u2019s divorce. That same year, Cher becomes the first female singer in the US to have four number ones when \u2018Dark Lady\u2019 hits the top.<\/p>\n 1983<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Cher receives an Oscar nomination for her role in Silkwood<\/span> alongside Meryl Streep.<\/p>\n 1988<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Wins the Best Actress Oscar for Moonstruck<\/span> and now commands $1 million per film.<\/p>\n 1998<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The dance-pop album Believe is released. The title track tops the charts in 23 countries, becoming the biggest-selling single ever by a female artist in the UK.<\/p>\n 2010<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n She stars in Burlesque <\/span>opposite fellow pop-diva Christina Aguilera. \u2018You Haven\u2019t Seen the Last of Me\u2019 sees her become the only artist with number-one singles in six consecutive decades.<\/p>\n 2018<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Appears in Mamma Mia! Here <\/span>We Go Again<\/span>.<\/p>\n 2023<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Cher releases her first festive album, Christmas<\/span>, with guests including Stevie Wonder, Tyga and Cyndi Lauper.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\nCHRISTMAS WITH CHER<\/h2>\n
LIFE OF AN ICON\u00a0<\/h2>\n