Why Cher’s memoir begins with an author’s note about son Chaz Bono
Before Cher’s memoir begins, the iconic singer leaves a message to her readers.
Under a section titled “Author’s Note,” Cher wrote that the book, “Cher: The Memoir, Part One,” is based on her “sometimes imperfect” memory, and then mentioned her son Chaz Bono, whom she shared with her late ex-husband Sonny Bono.
“In this memoir, I refer to my son Chaz as Chas, the name he went by during the years covered in this book,” she said. “Chaz has granted his blessing for this usage. In the next volume, at the appropriate point, I will refer to my son as Chaz.”
The book, which was published on Nov. 19, covers the beginning of Cher’s life, from childhood to meeting and marrying Sonny Bono, giving an inside look into their relationship and the music of Sonny & Cher.
Chaz Bono was born in 1969. The couple divorced in 1975.
In 2009, Chaz Bono announced he was transitioning, and chronicled the period of his life in a documentary titled “Becoming Chaz,” which aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Cher discussed her son’s birth in her memoir, writing that she named him Chastity Sun, as nods to a movie she had just filmed and to her then-husband. After the birth, she suffered a hemorrhage, she wrote.
“There was blood everywhere and I passed out on the floor,” she wrote. “I came to and tried to pull myself together, but by then I’d passed out again.”
Sonny Bono later found her and called a doctor, who came and gave her shots to stem the bleeding, she wrote. For the next three days, she wrote, she was too weak to even hold her baby, and that Sonny Bono took care of their child.
During Chaz Bono’s 7th birthday, Cher wrote that her son “dressed as a boy as she often liked to do” during the monster-themed celebration.
Cher also wrote about the sale of a home in which her son had an all-pink room.
“As we were driving away from my dream house, which had Chas’s over-the-top pink bedroom, she turned to me and said, ‘Mom, I have to tell you something … I hate pink.'”
