Sonny and Cher: A Tale of Success and Heartbreak

It’s no surprise for fans of Cher to learn that despite the success the duo Sonny & Cher had achieved in the 1960s, after they married in 1964, she had several regrets.   She revealed in Fall 2024 that Sonny, (just over ten years her senior) had controlled so much of her life that other than knowing how to sing and how to be a mother, she was often at a loss without Sonny telling her what to do.

Cher admitted in her new book, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, that near the end of the 1960s she had contemplated suicide during their relationship. 

Sonny and Cher were married in 1964 and soon working together as a duo in L.A.

Although being a smash hit musically, as actors, and television stars, behind closed doors, all was not well in the marriage of Cher and Sonny Bono. The duo tied the knot in 1964.  She admitted she cared deeply for Sonny, but that being married and being in a business together, especially show business, was extremely difficult.  As the turbulent decade came to an end, their popularity had started to diminish.

Cher recalls that thanks to a failed nightclub act, which garnered boos from the audience, a new opportunity revealed itself.  Cher started heckling the audience back and then she turned her attention on her husband standing next to her.  The result was the foundation for what would become The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.  They soon started making appearances on prime-time television and finalized a deal with CBS to debut in 1971.

The show was a tremendous hit, but success seemed to accentuate the worst parts of their relationship.  They had grown apart as a couple, and other than what appeared on the television screen every week, they were often not together or communicating whatsoever.   Sonny would file for divorce in 1974, which would trigger Cher to counterclaim for “involuntary servitude” and their successful television show would end.  

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour was a top hit show for CBS for four years until the couple split. They would reunite in 1977-78 for another season.

Although Cher had not strayed in their marriage with an affair, Sonny had done so more than once.  In 1972, she was 26 years old and frustrated with her life, which from all outside appearances, seemed to be an enormous success, both personally and professionally.  But as mentioned in a story published by Far Out Magazine in November 2024, Cher’s new book revealed just how desperate she had become in a “loveless” marriage.  

“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,” she wrote. “For a few crazy minutes I couldn’t imagine any other option.”

The singer went on to say she was at this suicidal point “five or six times,” but each time, she dissuaded herself when thinking about their child, her mother, and sister. She also noted how it might make suicide seem “a viable solution” to her fans.

Amazingly, the duo would reunite (as exes) to revive the Sonny & Cher Show from 1977-1978. But the audience did not seem to be as interested in the couple’s banter this time around, since it had been revealed by Cher during their public divorce that Sonny did not allow her to provide any input, make any decisions, or get paid 50/50 in their prior partnership.   Sonny’s public image suffered.  

But Cher continued her work in music and acting as a solo artist and soon entered the annals of pop-culture.  Cher has received numerous accolades throughout her career, including an Academy Award, a Grammy, an Emmy, three Golden Globes, and the Kennedy Center Honors, solidifying her status as a multi-talented icon. 

Cher holding an Oscar for Best Actress in 1988 for her performance in "Moonstruck."

Sonny would have some limited success as an actor and in music after their breakup, but he found his true success in politics, when he was elected U.S. Representative for California’s 44th District in 1995 until his death in 1998, as a result of a skiing accident near Lake Tahoe.   Cher read his eulogy at his funeral where she admitted that she was in shock after learning of Sonny’s death. 

Although the pair shared a child, Chastity, most press published about the two taking swipes at each other - which they eventually realized was not in their child’s best interest.  At times both seemed to regret their break-up. "I enjoyed the power of Sonny and Cher so much," Sonny revealed to People magazine in 1991. "That took years and years to let go."  But before his death, Cher said that Sonny called and apologized and she felt that they had reconciled their differences, mostly personal in nature.

Cher had spent days drafting Bono’s eulogy she hoped would "repair all the damage and misconceptions about Sonny."

Most notably, she ended the eulogy by saying, "When I was a young there was this section in Reader's Digest called 'The Most Unforgettable Character I Ever Met.’ No matter how old I get, no matter how many people I meet, that person will always be Son for me."

Learn more about their amazing life together, as well as their foray into folk rock and the mod world of the 1960s in The Rock and Roll Professor presentation, California Dreaming and I Got You Babe: The Folk Rock Revolution - a two part session featuring Sonny & Cher and The Mamas and The Papas, beginning March 27 and concluding on April 3.

Click here for more information on the presentation.

Rob

TheRockandRollProfessor.com.