Excerpt from Playgirl, July 1988
It’s hard to believe it’s been over 22 years since Cher first burst onto the music scene, along with her then-husband Sonny Bono. After performing in small clubs as Caesar & Cleo, the couple changed their professional names to Sonny and Cher and scored their first Top Ten hit with their debut single, “Baby Don’t Go,” back in 1965.
Their second single, the multi-platinum “I Got You Babe,” quickly established the duo and their eclectic wardrobe of bellbottoms, fur vests and love beads as a true ’60s phenomenon.
But while the hits (“The Beat Goes On,” “What Now My Love”) and their joint careers (The Sonny and Cher Show) flourished, their marriage disintegrated, eventually ending in divorce in 1975. And despite a successful solo career (“Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves,” “Half Breed”) Cher gradually set her sights on new territory— the movies.
Now, in 1988, she has done what few other recording artists have ever done. She’s successfully crossed over to become a bona-fide movie star, thanks to her strong performances in such films as Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, Silkwood, Mask, The Witches of Eastwick, Suspect and the triumphant Moonstruck (for which she received the Best Actress Academy Award in April, 1988).
Not that Cher has turned her back on rock and roll. Her first album in six years, simply titled Cher, has put her up against teen queens like Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. But it’s hard to imagine any of them in 25 years looking as stunning as Cher does today at 41.
With her long black curly hair framing those famous Cherokee cheekbones and almond eyes, provocatively dressed in a heavily studded leather jacket, miniskirt and spike heels, Cher is that rare sight — a movie star who looks even better in the flesh than she does on the silver screen.
She’s certainly come a long way from her humble origins in El Centro, California, where she was born Cherilyn Sarkisian.
PLAYGIRL: Describe your childhood.
CHER: It was pretty bizarre. We were very poor and moved around a lot. Basically, it was very unusual. My mother, who’s part French, part Cherokee Indian, was married six or seven times—she’s a pretty interesting woman, ’cause three of those times were to my father. He’s Armenian, and I never met him until I was eleven. There was almost never a man in our house, which is also a little bizarre.
Did it affect you in terms of ambition?
Oh, yeah. Quite early on I decided I wanted to be famous, though I wasn’t sure how. But I did perfect my autograph at an early age, so I guess I was already preparing. (Laughs)
What were your early dreams?
I always wanted to act from the time I can remember wanting to do anything. I loved movies, and I also didn’t think I’d be much good at anything else.
So how did you get into the music business?
I started singing by accident. You know, when I first met Sonny, I was already studying acting — I’d been doing it for a few months and that’s what I wanted to do. Anyway, Sonny was working for Phil Spector at the time, and I just started as a background singer. Later, we got married and began working as a couple.
Whose idea was “Sonny and Cher”?
That was Sonny’s. The whole thing was his idea. He had a real good instinct for things like that.
Do you look back fondly on those days?
Sure, especially the real early ones, and also the first year of The Sonny and Cher Show. We had a great time together, though we worked incredibly long hours. We just made better friends and professional partners than marriage partners.
What went wrong with the marriage?
(Laughs) Everything. Basically, we should never have gotten married at all. We should have just worked together and stayed friends, ’cause we had a great working relationship—I think that’s what held the marriage together as long as it did. On stage, it was fine. It was the rest that didn’t work out.
So why did you get married?
Because in the beginning we were crazy about each other, but our relationship didn’t grow along with our careers. Also, when we met, I was just 16 and he was 28, and he always wanted me to act like I was 16. But as I got older, there was no way I was going to stay that naive and immature.
Was it you that gradually drew away from Sonny?
I would say so, yes.
Are you still friends?
I don’t know if you’d call us “friends.” I don’t know what we are, though I know we’re still connected in some strange way. (Pauses) No, I don’t think “friends” covers it. I really don’t know how I feel about him.
Do you keep in touch?
We talk every once in a while, but there’s not much contact now. It depends. We go through stages when we’re pretty friendly, and then we’re not at all.
What happened after Sonny and Cher broke up?
The music thing was still very big. I mean, I had my own TV show, and I kept making records as a solo artist. But my goal was to be an actress and get back to my original plan. In fact, all the TV variety stuff turned out to be real useful later on. I got tired of it all, though, and I wanted to do something serious — except “serious” gives the connotation that all the other work wasn’t. I’m very serious about my work, but I don’t like being called “a serious actress,” ’cause I don’t think I am.
After your enormous pop success, did you find it hard to be taken seriously as an actress?
You kidding? It took me five years to get a job. No one wanted to give me a chance, no one…
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