‘I couldn’t imagine any other option’: Stuck in ‘loveless marriage’ with Sonny Bono, Cher almost took irreversible decision to ‘simply disappear’

Cher’s new self-titled memoir gives readers an inside look into her decade-long marriage with Sonny Bono, including the good and the bad that came their way while navigating their busy careers amid their supposedly picture-perfect union as collaborators and husband and wife.

Interestingly, the book also exposes a “much darker” aspect of their relationship that almost completely changed the trajectory of their lives and affected her legacy in Hollywood. “I stepped barefoot onto the balcony of our suite and stared down. 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,” Cher reveals in her new book, Cher: The Memoir, which was officially released on Nov. 19.

According to the singer, before that moment, she had a realization that she was stuck in a loveless marriage with a man who was no longer the same person she married at 23. “There I was, twenty-six years old and in what had become a loveless marriage. Sonny had given me the vehicle and the confidence to become the somebody my mother always told me I would be, and then he just lost interest.”

Revealing how much she longed to end everything that one depressing night in October 1972, Cher notes in her book that she thought of jumping about five or six times, but she couldn’t do it. “Each time, I’d think about Chas, my mother, about my sister, about everybody and how things like this could make people who look up to me feel that it’s a viable solution, and I would step back inside.”

The irreversible decision could have entirely rewritten the fashion icon’s legacy in the showbiz industry since it took place before her big success as a solo singer and her accomplishments as an actress in movies like Moonstruck, Silkwood, The Witches of Eastwick, and Burlesque.

Cher also details in her memoir the challenging aspects of her partnership with Bono, both personally and professionally. From the singer-turned-politician’s infidelity to his emotionally abusive nature, the “If I Could Turn Back Time” songstress does not hold back on how the relationship took a toll on her, especially in the final years of their marriage. According to Cher, the culmination of all these issues was what drove her to contemplate jumping off the Las Vegas hotel balcony. 

Even before the release of her book, Cher has always been upfront about how she felt and still feels about her ex-husband and their failed marriage. Earlier this month, she admitted on CBS Sunday Morning that she found Bono childish despite their 11-year age gap. She was only 16 when they met, while he was already 27. She also shared that while she was all about him from the start, the latter didn’t like her when they met, so “it wasn’t love at first sight” for them. 

However, something blossomed between them as they spent more time together, first as friends and then as roommates. Eventually, the two were so loved up that they had an impromptu wedding in an apartment bathroom. At the start of their marriage, things were going smoothly, and this translated into hit songs as the Sonny & Cher pop duo and their work on their variety show The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. But as with other married couples, not every day was sunshine and rainbows. 

In 1974, Cher and Bono finally decided to separate while she was already in a relationship with record producer David Geffen. A year later, their divorce was finalized. Interestingly, since ending their marriage, the two had been on better terms as friends until Bono’s demise in 1998. Cher even refers to her ex-husband as her “close confidante” throughout her memoir, proving that the two were better off as friends than lovers. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or has had self-harming thoughts, do not hesitate to reach out to your local confidential support for people in distress. In the U.S., the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s # is 988, OR you can call 1-800-273-8255. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK).