'You don't lose them': Cher reveals it wasn't easy for her to process son Chaz Bono's transition from female to male
Pop icon Cher recently said that it initially “wasn’t easy” for her to accept the transition of her son -- Chaz Bono -- from female to male. The singer told CNN's Christiane Amanpour, “It was very unlike me to, in the beginning, have a problem with Chaz being gay, and it disappeared like that. Then we talked about [whether Bono was] transgender for many years. And [he] would say, 'No, I don't want to [transition]. And then he went and said, 'OK, I want to do this'. But it wasn't easy. I remember calling, and the old [voicemail] message ... was on the phone, and that was very difficult. But you don't really lose them. They just are in a different shape.” Cher also added that her son, who was born Chastity, to her and the late Sonny Bono, is now "so unbelievably happy”.
The 74-year-old is a strong advocate for the LGBTQ community. Recalling a time from her childhood she said, “One day I came home and there were these two men in my living room with my mom and my aunt. They were doing their hair and talking, and I was thinking, 'Why haven't we ever had these kind of guys around? Because these guys are the coolest.' That was my [introduction to] the gay world.” She also added that "gay people don't feel like they fit in, and I never felt like I fit in".
Cher’s son Chaz, who made a documentary about his transition in 2011, spoke frankly with Oprah the same year. At the time, he said, “Life was always so much more difficult [before his transition]. Especially going into puberty, it felt like the expectations around me started to change or how I was supposed to act, but it also felt as if my body was literally betraying me. I went from a very athletic, straight up and down little kid to a very curvaceous woman. It was just horrifying to me."
He further explained: “The hard thing for my mom is that because she is a public figure and because she has this personality of being so cool about stuff and progressive, people forget that she's a parent. The truth is a lot of parents never speak to their transgender kids again. That's not the case in my family. There's no doubt about her love for me. Now, everything is so easy and effortless. I feel like I'm on the same playing field as everybody else."
During the interview with Amanpour, Cher also mentioned her views about president-elect Joe Biden. The 'Moonstruck' star stated: “I adore him, I love him. And I am sorry that they are trying to hogtie him so that he can't do anything, because he's such a great man [with a] great heart. He wants to do so many things, and they're all good.” She also made a comparison between Biden and former president Jimmy Carter as she said, “both want to help the American People. When Joe says it, I think by hook or by crook, he's going to get it done," Cher added.