Cher the Joy: The Singer Talks Holidays and Finding Love in Her 70s

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There’s the music, the singing, the dancing, the acting—and then there’s the ice cream. Cher talks about Cherlato, her new gelato line, with as much enthusiasm as she does anything else she’s undertaken throughout her career. “I’ve had ice cream all over the world and I always thought I’d have an ice cream company,” she says. Then, while on tour in New Zealand, she tasted some gelato that made her say, This is it! She teamed up with its maker, renowned Gelato artisan Gianpaolo Grazioli, to bring this vision to life. If you live in Los Angeles, you can catch the colorful Cherlato truck making its way around town, and Cher is in the process of making it available for others to enjoy outside of SoCal.

It’s refreshing to hear that a woman who is the living definition of an icon is in fact just like us, with a sweet tooth that is “kind of (she laughs) under control.” “I like sweets. Come on. I’m a girl!” she says. Her favorite thing to indulge in is her late mother Georgia Holt’s signature cheesecake, which has made its way into her Cherlato line and is a quintessential item on her holiday table year after year. “I don't know what her secret was. But it's the best cheesecake in the universe,” says Cher.

Celebrating the Holidays with Cher

Cher started off her holidays with an appearance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade this year. She embraces the season, she says, by decking out her house “as if Santa Claus is coming to town” and hosting upwards of 20 guests, including her children, Elijah, 47, and Chaz, 54. “Everybody ends up coming to my house. All the strays. Family and friends of family. So, it’s a pretty long table.” She gets out the old ornaments she’s had since her kids were little, sets the table with Christmas plates she’s been long collecting (she jokes that they take up half the real estate in her pantry) and is excited to always decorate her mantle with stockings she hand-needlepointed for her children in her downtime while filming Silkwood.

Cher looks back at the Christmases of her youth with fondness, highlighting a memory of when her mother, Georgia Holt, who didn’t have much money back in the day, worked extra-hard to surprise her and her sister with expensive dolls that were on their wish list. “My mom also got us these little white leather cowboy jackets and cowboy boots. And it was just so much fun,” she says. She also recalls her very first gift from Santa, on a Christmas morning when she thought all the presents had been opened and her mother found one that had her name on it, which turned out to be a fuzzy kitten toy straight from the North Pole. She has fond memories of watching It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s still her favorite holiday film.

In 2022, Cher—who was married to Sonny Bono from 1964 to 1975 and Greg Allman for four years after (she has also been romantically linked to Gene Simmons, Tom Cruise, Warren Beatty, Val Kilmer and Richie Sambora)—found love again with music industry executive Alexander “A.E.” Edwards, 37. “It took me completely by surprise. I mean, it was ridiculous. I wasn't looking for it at all. It just happened,” she says. It’s been a fun new chapter for Cher who says the 40-year age difference has some perks, like being able to be introduced to new music. The duo celebrated their first Christmas together last year and Cher says gift-wise, Edwards nailed it. “Christmas morning, he gave me a bag and it had these beautiful handmade books and a beautiful pen—just amazing!” she says. “And then he went, ‘Oh, wait, I forgot this one.’ And I opened it up and there was the most amazing diamond ring I've ever seen.”

She’s celebrating this holiday season with the launch of her very first Christmas album, which she worked on night and day for months, she says. “The record company has been asking me for a long time but I just didn't feel it. And then they let me go ahead and do what I wanted to do.” Cher took a unique approach to Christmas, her first studio album in five years, pairing up with artists like Michael Bublé, Cyndi Lauper and Darlene Love on holiday classics, while belting out four originals including the upbeat dance track “DJ Play a Christmas Song” and “Drop Top Sleigh Ride,” featuring Tyga, who her boyfriend introduced her to. And when Stevie Wonder agreed to record “What Christmas Means to Me”—and volunteered to play harmonica on the track—Cher was beyond giddy. “I ran around my room and jumped on my bed. I jumped up and down saying ‘Stevie Wonder is gonna be on my album!’”

25 Years of "Believe"

It’s hard to think of Cher and not start humming or singing do you be-lieve in life after love… after love, after love… That’s OK with Cher, who is celebrating the title track of her 1998 bestselling album with a deluxe edition release with remastered remixes. “I can't believe that ‘Believe’ was—I can't believe, believe (laughs)—25 years ago,” she says. Time seems to be flashing by, she muses. “I can’t believe I’m as old as I am. It’s like, how did this happen?” Looking back at the album, she has several standout memories, one being an argument with her producer about her not bringing the verses to life the way that he wanted her to. “He kept saying, ‘Cher you gotta do it better, you got to do better.’ And I said, ‘You want it better? Get somebody else.’ And I walked out,” she recalls. The next morning, he called to tell her he had discovered a new tool that added a fun effect to her vocals, which she absolutely loved, becoming the first artist to popularize the auto-tune.

And while polishing up the title track, Cher found herself in the bathtub, pondering how to not have two verses in a row be about a girl feeling down. “I got my toes stuck in the faucet and the lines came to me: ‘Cause I've had time to think it through. And maybe I'm too good for you.’” At the time, she didn’t push for a writing credit, but does regret it to this day—something she says she’s only publicly talked about twice in interviews, one being this conversation with Parade. “I didn’t even ask for it. I could have gotten it. I didn't know and I thought it was such a small amount. It was like, live and learn,” she says.

Related: Cher's Mom's Cheesecake Is Impressively Easy

Glad To Be Back...Again!

At 77, Cher looks decades younger, radiates with energy and still turns heads everywhere she goes. She credits good genes for her ever-youthful glow, especially from her mother who passed in 2022 at the age of 96. “She was unbelievable. So beautiful,” says Cher, who jokes that her mom once flirted with Obama well into her 80s. “I’m taller than my mom so she was standing so you couldn’t see her,” she says. “And when I stepped aside, he walked up to her and said, ‘Okay, I need to know everything that you do because you're amazing!’” Cher is also quick to admit that she doesn’t enjoy alcohol, stays away from drugs and hasn't smoked in years. And of course, she’s been active since the beginning. “I was dancing on The Sonny and Cher Show and on The Cher Show and then on the road.” And she’s just as passionate about her art as she was from day one. After having attempted decades of farewell tours, Cher is far from slowing down anytime soon. “I'm just gonna go till the very last breath,” she says.

Well, she did attempt to slow down for a bit. “I didn't do anything for a couple of years, so now I'm back.” During that time Cher hung out with girlfriends in Europe, going on boat trips and vacationing in Nepal. “I have friends all over the world and I was traveling and having fun and just being a bum.”

Dating Edwards inspired her to take on a new studio album, which is her next adventure. He brought her some songs he had been holding onto for a long time, telling her, “I think these songs were waiting for you.” “They’re amazing,” says Cher. She also has a track that P!nk gave to her and is excited to be working with writer Sarah Hudson, who Cher’s known since the songwriter was four years old.

When referencing her colossal career, Cher says, “It's a mess. It's just a mess. I’ve been trying to do a book and a movie... Everybody keeps saying you’ve lived too long and done too much!” The memoir, she says, has been a challenge as she initially was hesitant to open up and found herself “uncharacteristically holding back.” Now, she’s going back in with more things to say. “I thought, this is not working for me. And this is not going to work for people. So, I'm not starting from the beginning. I'm just kind of pulling things out and putting things in.” The autobiography will be released next year. She’s also consulting on an upcoming Cher biopic with producer Judy Craymer, who also produced the Mamma Mia! movies. And she’s always open to seeing what comes her way next. “I believe what belongs to you comes to you,” says Cher, who admits that she’s never had a bucket list and enjoys seeing what paths life takes her down.

“It’s like with Mamma Mia!,” she says, which she almost didn’t do. “I talked to Meryl [Streep] and she was like ‘Come on, we're gonna have such a good time.’ And I was like, ‘Alright, fine.’ And I got to sing ‘Fernando’ and that was my favorite thing. And then I did the Mamma Mia! album.“ Even with a list of career highlights that outdo many of the most seasoned stars, “I don't go back to memory lane that often,” she says. But Moonstruck is another favorite career highlight, which she admits she also almost turned down. And she also thoroughly enjoyed being in The Witches of Eastwick.
When asked if she listens to her own songs if they come on the radio or watches her own work, she quips, “I'm not a huge Cher fan. Let's put it that way.” There have been songs that she is surprised resonate with listeners and there are plenty of songs she really loves that didn’t land well with fans—“I always say I'm going to put together Cher’s Greatest Bombs and make an album of it.”

Love it or not, Cher has stayed authentic to herself, doing things unapologetically her own way—like showing up to make a surprise performance at the 2019 Met Gala in ripped jeans that she’s worn on stage for 20 years, forgoing the designer outfit made for her for the occasion. “I thought, I'm not going to compete with any of these girls. I've been there and done that. So, I just went out in my jeans and my big jacket and boots,” she says. Or rocking a platinum blonde wig while out to dinner with friends. “I still have long dark hair. I have Cher hair. But sometimes, it's just so boring,” says the least boring person on earth, with a chuckle.

Related: Cher, 77, Wows in Leather Corset and Studded Pants for Royal Performance

50+ Years of Cher

After leaving home and high school at 16, Cher met Sonny Bono at an L.A. restaurant. “I swear to God, the moment I saw Sonny, every else in the room disappeared,” Cher told Parade in 2010. “He was the coolest guy ever.” The duo worked as backup singers for record producer Phil Spector and sang in bars. They were nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy in 1966 (they lost to Tom Jones), but by the 1970s, the couple had a string of hit songs—including “I Got You Babe” and “The Beat Goes On.” They headlined four seasons of The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (1971-1974) and Cher went on to score a No. 1 single on a Billboard chart for six decades, from the 1960s through the 2010s.

Cher’s first performance as an actress was in a 1967 episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. She went on to make her Broadway debut in Robert Altman’s Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean in 1982. And, in 1983, Cher starred with Meryl Streep in Silkwood. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Dolly Pelliker. She played mom Rusty Dennis to great acclaim in Mask (1985 and won the Best Actress Academy Award for her role of Loretta Castorini in Moonstruck (1987). That same year, Cher played lawyer Kathleen Riley in Suspect and Alexandra Medford in The Witches of Eastwick. After playing Mrs. Flax in Mermaids in 1990, Cher played wealthy American socialite Elsa Morganthal Strauss-Armistan in Franco Zefferelli’s Tea With Mussolini (1999). Her Tess in Burlesque (2010) teaches Ali (Christina Aguilera) a thing or two about song and dance. And in 2018, she played the hip grandmother Ruby Sheridan in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

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