Cher reveals “shock” at learning her real name
Cher recently discussed how shocked she was when she learned her real birth name. She revealed that she had grown up thinking that it was something completely different.
She released her memoir on November 19th. Cher: The Memoir, Part One, gives fans new insights into the singer’s life. The pop icon writes in-depth about her childhood and early career, as well as her dramatic rise to fame in the 1960s and ‘70s.
One of her revelations comes in the book’s early chapters, when she talks about her childhood and reveals that she stumbled across her birth certificate, which revealed that her birth name was Cheryl. This was a huge shock to the singer as she had always believed that her name was Cherilyn.
In the new book, Cher wrote, “I believed Cherilyn was my name until the day years later when I decided to legally change my name to simply Cher.”
Cher was born in El Centro, California, on May 20th, 1946. Her mother was only 19 at the time, and it has always been believed that she gave her the name Cherilyn. Cher recalls the story that was passed to her in her memoir, saying that after an intense labour, her mother was asked to give her baby a name. “My mother had no idea,” she wrote, “But the woman insisted so she replied, ‘Well. Lana Turner’s my favourite actress and her little girl’s called Cheryl. My mother’s name is Lynda, so how about Cherilyn?”
It transpired that the nurse heard her mother wrong, and she wrote her name as Cheryl on the birth certificate. The singer legally changed her name to Cher in 1979, dropping her last name, Sarkisian, and her married names, Allman and Bono. It was during this process that she found out what her real name was and was shocked by the news.
Her memoir contains many other fascinating stories from the pop icon’s life. She talks about her abusive relationship with Sonny Bono and recalls a story of when Tina Turner asked for her advice on how to leave her abusive husband, Ike. Cher admits that Bono had “seriously thought” about killing her and throwing her off a balcony. He allegedly made the threat after Cher revealed she wanted to sleep with their guitarist.
“He laughed a little at that, and so did I,” she writes, “It was crazy that he was telling me. He went on: ‘I figured I’d plead insanity like Spade Cooley and get seven years in jail before they released me. Then I’d get a book deal and my own show’.”
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