Cher has opened up about a shocking moment from her tumultuous marriage to Sonny Bono, revealing that her ex-husband once seriously considered killing her. In her memoir “Cher: The Memoir (Part One),” the music icon recounts an intense episode during their strained relationship that almost turned deadly. It stemmed from a particularly unhappy period in which Cher contemplated jumping off the balcony of their Las Vegas hotel room.
Reflecting on their October 1972 split at the Sahara Hotel, Cher recounted how she expressed a desire to sleep with Bill, a guitarist in their band. Although she didn’t intend for her words to lead to a breakup, Sonny’s controlling nature had left her feeling trapped—so much so that he forbade her from wearing perfume.
During a breakfast conversation after the fallout, Sonny told Cher that following her night with Bill, he had seriously entertained the idea of throwing her off the balcony. In a mix of dark humor and disbelief, Cher admitted that she had also considered jumping, leading to a moment of unexpected laughter between them, despite the gravity of their situation.
Cher wrote about the surrealness of the moment, stating, “I don’t think for a minute that Sonny would have actually pushed me off the balcony, but I’m sure it crossed his mind, and he knew that jumping off had also crossed mine. What else could we do but laugh?”
Despite their split, which was amicable on the surface to preserve their public image, Cher later discovered that Sonny had been unfaithful during their marriage, including sleeping with Bill’s girlfriend as some form of revenge. The couple, who first met when she was 16 and he was 27, married in 1964 and remained together until 1975. Cher details the painful dynamics of their relationship, including her own feelings of betrayal and Sonny’s numerous infidelities, culminating in a very public and complex divorce.
Sonny Bono passed away in a skiing accident in 1998, but his legacy, intertwined with Cher’s, endures as they continue to resonate within the fabric of pop culture history. In her memoir, Cher candidly explores the highs and lows of her life, shedding light on a relationship that was both celebrated and tumultuous.
