Cher reveals being ‘shocked’ on finding out her real name following birth certificate error
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Music icon Cher was completely taken aback by the legal name on her birth certificate when she decided to change her name at the age of 33.
The 'Believe' star recently published the first installment of her eagerly anticipated memoir, 'Cher: The Memoir, Part One', in which she described how she found out that the name her mother had given her as a baby was not the one that actually appeared on her birth certificate.
According to People, she explained how this happened by writing in her memoir, "I believed Cherilyn was my name until the day years later when I decided to legally change my name to simply Cher."
Cher spills the beans on her birth certificate error
The 78-year-old music legend—who was born Cherilyn Sarkisian—revealed in her new memoir, published on November 19, how she was "shocked" to discover that her first name was registered as Cheryl when she requested a copy of her birth certificate in 1979.
According to People, Cher's mother, Georgia Holt, gave birth to the star from "long, unmedicated labor" in 1946 when she was only 19 years old.
"She was exhausted by the time I arrived at around 7.30 am on Monday, May 20," Cher wrote. "A nurse came to her mother's room while she was recovering and inquired about the name she intended to give her baby."
She added: "My mother had no idea, but the woman insisted so she replied, 'Well, Lana Turner's my favorite actress and her little girl's called Cheryl. My mother's name is Lynda, so how about Cherilyn?'"
But in her birth ceritifcate, Cher's name was mistakenly written Cheryl.
"Do you even know my real name, Mom?" Cher asked her mother after discovering the birth certificate error. After taking the document out of her hands, Cher's mother glanced at it and smiled.
"I was only a teenager, and I was in a lot of pain. Give me a break," Georgia said in response to her daughter.
The Grammy Award winner legally changed her name to the short version (Cher) in 1979 and removed the four last names she had at the time: Bono and Allman from her previous marriages to Sonny and musician Gregg Allman; her birth last name, Sarkisian; and her stepfather's last name, LaPiere.
Explaining why Cher decided to change her name legally, she told Johnny Carson on 'The Tonight Show': "I like it. It's better for me than having people wonder if they should call me Mrs Allman or Mrs Bono or Mrs Bono Allman or Miss Cher or whatever."
The 'If I Could Turn Back Time' singer added, "I mean, 'Cher' is just fine. Just plain 'Cher,'" per E! News.
Cher on what she learned from mom Georgia Holt
Cher's mother Georgia Holt was hospitalized for pneumonia in September of 2022 and died in December of the same year at the age of 96. The 'Moonstruck' actress shared the heartbreaking news on X (formerly known as Twitter), with the simple caption, "Mom is gone."
Cher revealed to People in 2013 what she had learned from her mother, who was also an actress and musician, and never offered the singer and her sister Georganne advice "because, truthfully, she knew we’d never take it".
"Instead, we learned about life by listening to her talk about the things she did wrong and the things she did right," she explained.
Cher recalled admiring her late mother's glitz. "She and her friends were so beautiful. When they walked into the room, everything stopped. She was also an amazing dresser," she gushed.
The legendary musician also acknowledged that she was "really strong-headed" as a child and that her erratic behavior caused her mother some difficulties.
"I did a couple of things like running away when I was 11. I hopped a train with my friends. I was just very adventurous — but never disrespectful. She wouldn’t have put up with that," Cher said.
The first section of the memoir details Cher's early years, her early achievements, and her relationship with her first husband, singer-songwriter Sonny Bono. The second installment is scheduled for release in 2025, per The Mirror.
