Everyone knows Cher, right? She’s a pop icon with a dramatic career, and one of the biggest chapters in her story is her complicated relationship with Sonny Bono.
Together, Cher and Sonny had a child, Chaz Bono, who was born as Chastity Bono on March 4, 1969. Being the child of two celebrities meant that Chaz was famous from the start. It wasn’t long before TV viewers were familiar with him.
Chaz was named after the movie Chastity, which Sonny produced. Cher starred in the film as a young, bisexual hippie runaway, and Chastity was conceived while they were working on it.
As a child, Chaz often appeared on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. He would usually come on at the end of the show when Sonny and Cher performed their hit song “I Got You Babe.” This made Chaz a well-known face on TV.
But behind the scenes, Chaz was struggling. Growing up, he felt disconnected from other girls and their interests. “I’d look at other girls my age and feel perplexed by their interest in fashion or which boy was the cutest,” Chaz told Daily Mail in 2011.
At 18, Chaz came out to his parents as a lesbian. In his book Family Outing: A Guide to the Coming Out Process for Gays, Lesbians, and Their Families, Chaz wrote, “As a child, I always felt there was something different about me.
I’d look at other girls my age and feel perplexed by their obvious interest in the latest fashion, which boy in class was the cutest, and who looked the most like cover girl Christie Brinkley. When I was 13, I finally found a name for exactly how I was different. I realized I was gay.”
Cher was shocked by the news. “When I found out Chaz was gay, I didn’t go through it that easily,” Cher admitted in an interview with PrideSource. Chaz himself said his mom “went ballistic” when he first came out.
Then, at 39, Chaz began transitioning to become a man. Cher was once again caught off guard. “When I found out Chaz was [transitioning]… we talked about it a lot, actually. But then Chaz didn’t mention it anymore, so I kind of forgot,” Cher said. “And what I think is, there’s such a fear of losing the child you love, and what will replace that child.”
Cher added, “I think it’s about the fear, mostly. I felt, who will this new person be? Because I know who the person is now, but who will the new person be and how will it work and will I have lost somebody?”
In 2010, Chaz officially became a man when a California court approved his request for a gender and name change. His transition was documented in Becoming Chaz, a film shown at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network. The documentary gave viewers a close look at Chaz’s journey and the emotional hurdles he faced.
“My mother went through a kind of mourning period. It was difficult for her, and we didn’t see each other for about the first year of my transition,” Chaz told SBS Australia. One particularly emotional scene in the documentary featured Cher hearing Chaz’s new voice for the first time, altered by hormone therapy.
“I was hysterical when I heard her voice on her answering machine. It was her old voice,” Cher said. “I remember saying, ‘Is there any way I can save it?’ But it was gone. I’ll never hear it again.”
After the documentary, Chaz continued to make his mark in Hollywood. In 2011, he made history as the first transgender man to compete on Dancing with the Stars. This was also the first time a transgender man starred on a major network TV show for something other than his transgender identity, according to Advocate.com. Five years later, he appeared in five episodes of American Horror Story: Roanoke and played Reverend Rydale on The Bold and the Beautiful.
Chaz had struggled with obesity for years, but his transition marked a turning point toward a healthier lifestyle. “I would have never been able to do it before,” he told Oprah Winfrey. “I was too disconnected from my body… the dysphoria I had with my body was too much to be able to have cared enough about to do anything like that.”
When Chaz joined Dancing with the Stars, he weighed 250 pounds. The intense training helped him lose weight quickly, which wasn’t surprising given the amount of physical activity required. Even after the show, Chaz continued his healthy lifestyle and has continued to lose weight, looking far different from the unhealthy weight he had a decade ago.
But the weight loss journey wasn’t all smooth. Losing a lot of weight left Chaz with sagging skin. “It’s not fun, but it was worth it, because I look better now. I’ve cut out, you know, 99 percent of grains from my diet,” Chaz revealed. “I pretty much eat vegetables, meat, fruit, nuts… My birthday is the one day of the year I’ll do cake,” he told Extra TV.
Cher has been incredibly proud of her son’s journey. “He did it all by himself. He made up his own mind and he did it. And it was like what—85, 90 pounds. Wow! … I don’t know if I’d have that courage,” Cher said in 2013.
Seeing Chaz now, it’s clear he’s been through a lot but has come out stronger. His story is one of resilience and self-discovery. If you find his journey as inspiring as we do, please share this article!
