Cher’s contract with her ex-husband and musical collaborator, Sonny Bono, effectively placed her in “involuntary servitude”, the pop icon has claimed.
In a new two-part memoir, the “Believe” star recalls a conversation with her then-boyfriend, record executive David Geffen, who asked her how she was paid.
At the time, Cher – born Cherilyn Sarkisian – was in the process of divorcing Bono and nearing the end of their star-making variety show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, which was cancelled due to their split in 1974.
“I told him I didn’t know [how I was paid] because I’d never read it,” Cher wrote. “‘It’s about time you did,’ he replied, and somehow he got his hands on the document, I’m not sure how.
“He called me up after reading it and said, “Sweetheart, this contract is involuntary servitude. You work for Sonny. You have no rights, no vote, no money, nothing. You’re an employee of something called ‘Cher Enterprises’ with a salary you were likely never paid and three weeks’ vacation per year.
“He owns 95 per cent of the company and the rest belongs to his lawyer, Irwin Spiegel.”
Cher said that she was stunned and initially refused to believe this was the case: “Then David started reading the contract to me, and sure enough, I couldn’t even sign a [cheque] or withdraw any money without Sonny or Irwin’s signature.
“I was an employee of Cher Enterprises with no ownership, so I couldn’t access any of the money I earned for the company,” she said.
“Beyond that, I was signed to the company and could only work with Sonny’s permission. That meant not only did I have no money, I had no way to make any money unless Sonny signed off on it.”
“Everything David told me was a kick in the gut,” she continued. “I couldn’t fathom that this was true. I could understand the words, I just couldn’t understand the meaning – How did it happen? How could Sonny do that in good conscience? He’d been everything to me and for some time I had been everything to him. Then it got worse. David told me I was locked into Cher Enterprises for another two years.”
Cher said she was “more heartbroken than angry” about her situation, as she slowly realised that Bono would have left her with just her car and clothes: “It took several days for the full horror to sink in,” she continued.
“I’d worked my whole life, yet apparently I had nothing to show for it. I’d never for a second imagined that I needed to protect myself from Sonny, of all people, yet the contracts he’d had me sign were secretly designed to strip me of my income and the rights to my own career.”
She ended up ringing actor, comedian and producer Lucille Ball, knowing that she had successfully split from her husband and collaborator Desi Arnaz, buying out his share in their production company, Desilu.
Geffen then helped Cher get her own lawyer – the same one who had helped Ball in her separation from Arnaz – who told her she needed to divorce Bono before they could begin tackling the subject of her career earnings.
However, she wanted to try and appeal to her former partner and so went to his office, insisting he tear up the contract and write a new one that would give her an equal share of their earnings.
Bono apparently refused and told her she didn’t know what she was talking about. “I knew I had to fight for my rights,” Cher said. “I had a daughter to raise and a sister and mother to worry about.
“If you don’t agree to give me half the money and redo the contract, Sonny, I won’t sign for another year with CBS. I won’t do anything with you. I can’t be working for nothing,” she told him.
Cher went on to star in her own variety show, Cher, in 1975. She and Bono reconciled professionally to create The Sonny and Cher Show, for which she was paid fairly.
“Sonny had his demons,” Cher said of her ex-husband. “There was something inside him that I could never understand, something that took him from being this fabulous funny guy to being someone who would take everything from me. For years, I’ve racked my brain for how he could have done what he did, and I still can’t get over it to this day.”
Bono later left his entertainment career and went into politics, serving as a member of the Republican party, the mayor of Palm Springs, California, and the representative for California’s 44th congressional district until his death in a skiing accident in 1998, aged 62.
Cher: The Memoir, Part One is out now via HarperCollins.
