Cher has revealed that she contemplated suicide during her tumultuous marriage to Sonny Bono.
In the first installment of her candid memoir, released on Tuesday, the 78-year-old music icon detailed what she described as a "loveless marriage" to her musical partner. She recounted a harrowing moment in 1972 when she considered jumping off a Las Vegas hotel balcony to escape what she felt was a life of total control under Sonny.
"I was dizzy with loneliness," she wrote, describing the despair she felt at the time. "I saw how easy it would be to step over the edge and simply disappear."
The If I Could Turn Back Time singer admitted that on several occasions, she stood on the balcony, consumed by feelings of defeat, unable to see another way out.
"For a few crazy minutes, I couldn’t imagine any other option," she wrote. "But each time, I’d think about Chaz, my mother Georgia, my sister Georganne, and everyone who looked up to me. I realized how damaging it would be for them, and I would step back inside."
Eventually, Cher experienced a breakthrough. "I don’t have to jump off," she wrote. "I can just leave him."
In her memoir, Cher also disclosed Sonny's controlling behavior, sharing that he forbade her from wearing perfume, managed all aspects of her career and finances, and even prevented her from opening her own bank account. Toward the end of their marriage, Sonny allegedly admitted he had "seriously thought" about killing her.
Cher and Sonny began their relationship with an unofficial wedding in 1964, later marrying legally in 1969. After years of tension and a heated custody battle over their only child, Chaz, the couple divorced in 1975.
