Cher and her dad who abandoned her as a toddler bonded over his $1,000 shoes when they reconnected

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Cher recently dropped quite a bombshell about her first meeting with the father who abndoned her when she was just a toddler.

In her memoir, the 78-year-old 'Believe' hitmaker spilled all the emotional tea about reconnecting with her birth father Johnnie Sarkisian at the tender age of 11.

When Cher met her father for the first time

Cher paints a vivid picture of her childhood, where her dad was more of a "shadowy" memory than a real person. “He was a shadowy figure from the past,” she writes, explaining how Sarkisian abandoned her and her mom Georgia when she was a toddler.

Georgia moved on with multiple marriages, including one to a billionaire – a high-profile split that made headlines and lured Sarkisian back into the picture over a decade later, Radar Online reported.

When Cher’s mom sat her down one day and casually asked if she wanted to meet her father, it was framed like it was no big deal. “It seemed like the most normal thing in the world,” she recalls.

Though she already considered one of her mom’s exes to be her “real dad,” curiosity got the best of her. “Although I had no burning desire to see him, there was a tiny part of me that had always been curious,” she admitted.

Decked out in her “Sunday best", young Cher opened the door to a man who — in her words — was like looking into a mirror.

"There was a sense of recognition at the genetic link between us because in him I saw my own olive skin and heart-shaped mouth," she wrote. "With thick dark eyebrows and almond-shaped brown eyes, he bore an uncanny resemblance to my favorite actor, Victor Mature, whom I'd always been a sucker for."

Sarkisian apparently asked Georgia after laying eyes on Cher: "So, this is my baby?"

But Cher’s first words to her long-lost dad were so characteristic of her. Eyes locked on his feet, she blurted, “What are they made of?” referring to his fancy loafers. When Sarkisian coolly replied, “Alligator,” she couldn’t resist asking how much they cost.

"These were the first few words I ever spoke to my father, and he hadn't even stepped a well-heeled foot across the threshold," she recalled.

Her father said the pair cost him $1,100 – a price tag that floored her young mind. “Even at that tender age, I couldn’t help but think that there was something unusual about his wearing alligator loafers,” she quipped.

Dinner, deja vu, and the aftermath of Cher meeting her father

The reunion wasn’t just about shoes, though. Over dinner, Cher couldn’t stop analyzing her father’s mannerisms – and seeing herself in him.

"Johnnie stayed for dinner, and I watched him with fascination," she explained. "He seemed relaxed, easygoing, and even-tempered, like me. I also noticed that he ate very slowly, as I did. Mom had always been upset with me for what she called 'dawdling' over my food, but when I saw him I thought, Yes, I'm vindicated, because here Johnnie was."

"I had a new father and he played with his food too. Watching him, I understood that the reason Mom sometimes looked at me strangely was that he and I both had the same little half-smile," she continued.

It was like seeing the missing piece of her genetic puzzle click into place.

"What I saw in him was the part of me that I could never explain before, because I'd never seen it in anyone else in my family. The thing you can't know unless you meet your other parent. This man walked in and it was like a missing puzzle piece for me. He did things intentionally and quietly like I did. He wasn't quick to anger," she said.

Despite the glaring similarities, Cher couldn’t fully embrace Sarkisian as her father. That title had already been claimed by another man who had been a steady presence in her life.

“Even though I knew that I was Johnnie’s child, it was hard for me to think of him as my father,” she confessed. “He was some other word that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. My brain was full of complicated thoughts, some of which conflicted with the love I still felt for my daddy.”

Cher’s memoir doesn’t stop there. It’s a treasure trove of stories from her youth — including her steamy affair, struggles with suicidal thoughts during her marriage to Sonny Bono, wild nights partying with a drunken John Lennon at the Playboy Mansion, and even locking lips with Warren Beatty at just 15.