Cher (56 page)

If she could turn back time! Throughout her career Cher has sported “cheeky” outfits like this one, which showed off all of her attributes, and several of her tattoos. (
Nancy Barr/Retna Photos
)

With Winona Ryder (left) in the 1990 film
Mermaids
, Cher portrayed a kooky early 1960s mom. The soundtrack album provided her with her biggest-selling single up until that point, “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss).” (
Orion Pictures/MJB Photo Archives
)

With Diana Scarwid and Anne Heche, Cher starred in her fourteenth film, the highly acclaimed
If These Walls Could Talk
. Cher made her directorial debut in this three-segment film, and also portrayed an abortion clinic doctor. (
HBO Pictures/MJB Photo Archives
)

(
Harry Langdon/Casablanca Records/MJB Photo Archives
)

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AP/Wide World Photos
)

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AP/Wide World Photos
)

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AP/Wide World Photos
)

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AP/Wide World Photos
)

The many faces of Cher. Her fans have stuck with her through plastic surgery, divorces, and even tragedy. Although they had feuded for years, when Sonny Bono suddenly died in a tragic skiing accident in 1998, his passing touched Cher in a way that was startling even to her.

Cher was as effervescent as the bubbles in a glass of champagne in the 1999 film
Tea with Mussolini
. (
Philippe Antonello/G2-MGM Pictures/MJB Photo Archives
)

With costar Lily Tomlin in
Tea with Mussolini
. (
Philippe Antonello/G2-MGM Pictures/MJB Photo Archives
)

Cher as Elsa Morgenthal, an affluent art collector, in
Tea with Mussolini
. (
Philippe Antonello/G2-MGM Pictures/MJB Photo Archives
)

“The kids were so cold they were crying,” recalled Mary at the bottom of the hill. “I said, ‘O.K., he had to have skied to the bottom. He’ll be there waiting for us’ ” (209). However, three hours later, as the sun was setting and the ski resort was getting ready to close the slopes for the day, Mary became worried and reported her husband’s disappearance to the Ski Patrol. She figured at this point that the worst thing that could have happened would be that he had a broken leg.

At approximately 6:45 p.m., Sonny Bono’s body was found in a wooded area between two trails. He was in a foot of snow and had been dead more than five hours. Sgt. Lance Modispacher, of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department, said of Bono’s family, “[They] skied past him and didn’t notice. He was in such an area of trees that you wouldn’t see him” (210).

According to Douglas County, Nevada, sheriff, Ron Pierini, “death was immediate” and “there is no indication of any substances or alcohol.” Describing the circumstances of the accident, and the length of time before medical professionals were on the site of the accident, Pierini reported, “There are trees all over the place. Even if paramedics were on the scene, it would not have done any good” (211).

Finally, members of the Ski Patrol reported back to Mary, who was still at the bottom of the mountain. “They told me they found a body in the mountain, and I said, ‘Please let me go up.’ Then, the minute I got there, I saw his feet and his legs and I knew it was him. I got to see him, be with him on the mountain. They let me be with him for an hour and a half” (209).

While all of this was happening, Cher was on her way to London, for her scheduled Harrod’s department store appearance. She was in her hotel suite when the phone started ringing. It was Chastity on the line from America. Cher recalled her daughter’s somber words to her “ ‘Mom, Dad’s dead.’ I got completely hysterical. I just started sobbing and collapsed to my knees” (171).