Jimmy Kimmel learns the hard way not to mess with Cher as she calls out his 'dumb' question
On Wednesday, January 8, Cher appeared on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' and provided a humorous and candid update on the second part of her highly anticipated memoir. During the conversation, Cher was probed about her book, which follows the success of 'Cher: The Memoir, Part One', released in November 2024. The first installment, which covers her life from 1946 to 1976, including her rise to fame and her famous marriage to Sonny Bono, quickly became a bestseller, topping the New York Times list for weeks.
During the interview, Kimmel pressed Cher about her progress on part two of her memoir. With a laugh, Cher revealed, "No... I haven't even started it!" She seemed slightly embarrassed but took the comment in stride. Kimmel, in typical teasing fashion, couldn’t let it go and asked, "Is that true?" This prompted Cher to give him a cold, icy stare, showing that she wasn’t particularly thrilled by the question. The back-and-forth continued as Kimmel joked that it seemed unlikely she would be able to meet the November release date if she hadn’t even started writing it yet. Despite Kimmel’s playful skepticism, Cher remained confident and insisted, "Yes, it is!" Kimmel wasn’t so sure, humorously quipping, "We’ll see." He continued to tease, asking, “November of what year?”
Cher took the teasing in good humor, but she didn’t let Kimmel off the hook. When he jokingly offered to help her with the writing process, Cher politely declined, saying, “No,” with a smile. It was clear that despite the fun banter, she was determined to complete the book on her own terms. The conversation took a turn when Kimmel asked Cher a question many fans would expect, "If you could turn back time…" This was, of course, a clear reference to Cher’s iconic hit song 'If I Could Turn Back Time'. Before Kimmel could finish his sentence, Cher quickly shut him down, saying, "This is so dumb," with a playful tone. Despite the quick retort, Cher then shared that as dyslexic, she couldn’t quite recall which year she would choose to relive. However, she joked that she’d go back to when she was 60, even though the year she turned 40 was the “best.”
As the interview came to a close, Kimmel thanked Cher for joining him and joked that he hoped she would return in November, assuming she managed to get the book finished by then. Cher, always quick with a witty reply, responded, “You’re a lot nicer and funnier than I thought you would be.” However, talking about her memoir in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cher revealed at the time, that working on 'Cher: The Memoir, Part One', wasn’t as cathartic as many might expect. Looking back at her past, from her difficult childhood to her marriage with Sonny Bono, left her tired at times as she admitted, “Sometimes at the day's end, I would really be tired.”
“We did this for months — going back and forward. But sometimes I would just say, ‘You guys, I just can’t do this anymore.’ Because sometimes when we were in the bad part, the bad part weighed so heavily,” she added. Despite the struggles, she didn’t want to hold back, ultimately deciding to share more than she originally intended. Cher also noted that the decision to split her memoir into two parts was partly due to the sheer amount of events in her life. “Who could have held it in their hands to read it?” she joked. “My life is made up of two halves: my childhood with Sonny Bono and then my life as a film actress.” While part one ends in 1982, just before she starts pursuing acting in New York, part two will continue with her journey into a new phase, filled with both highs and lows.
