Cher explains why she refers to Son Chaz using his dead name in the book

Dear clears up any confusion among readers as to why she refers to her son by his dead name in her new book.

“This memoir is based on my (sometimes imperfect) memory,” Cher, 78, wrote in the author’s note for Cher: The Memoirs — Part One. “In this memoir, I call my son Chaz Chas, the name he used during the years covered in this book. Chaz gave his blessing for this use. In the next volume, at the appropriate time, I will call my son Chaz.

Cher dedicated her book – released on Tuesday November 19 – to her mother, Georgiahis sister, Georganneand his two children: Chaz and Elijah. (Cher welcomed Chaz in 1969 with Sonny Bonofive years before filing for divorce in 1974. The following year, she was granted custody of Chaz. Four days after finalizing her divorce from Bono, Cher got married Gregg Allman. The couple welcomed Elijah in 1976 before separating in 1979.)

While recounting the story of Chaz’s birth in her memoir, Cher recalled that Bono expressed his desire to have a son. “‘Remember, Cher, I want a boy!’ he told me, laughing the whole time,” Cher wrote.

After giving birth to Chaz, Cher said Bono was thrilled with their little one. “Sonny came over the next morning and told me we had a seven pound, eight ounce baby girl and that she was beautiful,” she wrote. “It didn’t seem to bother him at all that she wasn’t a boy.” I called her Chastity Sun, ‘Chastity’ because that was my name in the film we had just made and ‘Sun’ in honor of her father.

Cher has been candid over the years about being a mother after Chaz, now 55, first came out as a lesbian before undergoing sex reassignment surgery in 2009.

“At first it wasn’t much like me to have a problem with Chaz being gay, and it went away like that,” Cher recalled to CNN in 2020. “Then we talked about (if Chaz was) transgender for many years. And (he) said, “No, I don’t want (to transition). And then he went and said, ‘OK, I want to do this.’

Cher admitted that “it wasn’t easy,” adding, “I remember calling and the old message (voicemail)… was on the phone, and it was very difficult.”

“But we don’t really lose them. They’re just in a different shape,” she continued, adding that Chaz – who became the first transgender person to appear on Dancing with the stars in 2011 – is “incredibly happy” now.

Cher: The Memoirs — Part One hit shelves on November 19.