Spotlight: Inside Sonny And Cher's Dark Relationship

The couple, who shot to fame with their hit "I Got You Babe," were performing two shows a night in Las Vegas, all while managing their hit CBS show and raising a young child. The relentless schedule took a toll on Cher, who weighed just 98 pounds at the time. The breaking point came when Sonny signed a long-term contract for more performances without consulting her, making Cher feel trapped and neglected.

Cher's memoir reveals the controlling nature of her husband, who prioritized business over their relationship. She describes stepping onto the balcony of their hotel suite, contemplating the ease of ending her pain. "I was dizzy with loneliness," she writes, recounting how she thought of her child and family during these moments of despair. The couple's relationship was marred by possessiveness, with Cher banned from socializing or even wearing perfume. Despite the public façade of a happy couple, Cher's narrative exposes the darker side of their union, including Sonny's infidelity and manipulation.

She also walked in on Sonny cheating with his assistant one night. He told her it was her fault for not having enough sex with him. “I wouldn’t have had to look outside our marriage if I was sexually satisfied,” he insisted. Cher writes: “That was such bulls–t. But by the time he’d finished, I found myself apologizing.” They officially wed in 1964 when Cher became pregnant with Chas (who is trans and legally changed his name to Chaz in 2010).

The turning point for Cher came when a flirtation with a band guitarist gave her the push she needed to confront Sonny. In a bold move, she told him she wanted to be with someone else, a statement that finally made him listen. This confrontation marked the beginning of the end for their marriage.

“I’d worked my whole life, yet apparently, I had nothing to show for it. I’d never for a second imagined that I needed to protect myself from Sonny, of all people, yet the contracts he’d had me sign were secretly designed to strip me of my income and the rights to my own career,” she writes. “For years, I’ve racked my brain for how he could have done what he did, and I still can’t get over it to this day.”

Sonny Bono and Cher’s relationship was famously turbulent, marked by both incredible success and deep dysfunction. They first came together in the mid-1960s, with Cher being a backup singer and Sonny already an established figure in the music business. Their professional and personal lives quickly became intertwined, and they formed the musical duo *Sonny & Cher*, achieving major success with hits like "I Got You Babe." However, behind the scenes, their relationship was far from idyllic.

Their marriage, which began in 1964, was fraught with issues. Sonny, who played the role of the more dominant partner, often controlled Cher’s career and personal decisions, leading to tension. As Cher's fame grew, her independence clashed with Sonny's possessiveness. In interviews, she later described him as controlling and manipulative, while Sonny was often defensive, claiming that he was just looking out for her.

By the early 1970s, their marriage was strained. Cher became increasingly dissatisfied with the limitations of her career, feeling stifled by Sonny’s control. At the same time, Sonny’s personal insecurities and jealousy contributed to the deterioration of their relationship. They separated in 1974 and divorced in 1975, but they remained professionally connected through their television show, ‘The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour’, which aired from 1971 to 1974.

Despite their divorce, the couple continued to work together, and their relationship remained complicated. Cher went on to have a successful solo career, while Sonny found new pursuits, including politics, eventually serving as a congressman. However, they never fully escaped the toxic dynamics that had marked their marriage. In later years, Cher spoke about their volatile relationship with a mix of bitterness and sadness, acknowledging both the love and the pain they shared.

Sonny’s tragic death in a skiing accident in 1998 brought a final, bittersweet chapter to their complicated relationship. Cher has spoken publicly about how, despite everything, she still loved him and felt his loss deeply. Their relationship, while often toxic, also produced some of the most iconic music and television moments of the 1960s and 70s, leaving a lasting legacy in popular culture.