Cher shares emotional toll of writing her memoir: 'Exasperating and tiring'

Cher had a bittersweet experience writing her new tell-all memoir.

Ahead of the Nov. 19 release of her self-titled memoir’s first volume, the 78-year-old music icon shared with Entertainment Weekly how revisiting her life’s highs and lows took a toll.

“Sometimes at the day's end, I would really be tired,” Cher admitted. “We did this for months — going back and forward. But sometimes I would just say, ‘You guys, I just can't do this anymore. I will be so glad when this is over,’”

The Believe hitmaker described how revisiting painful memories, including her tumultuous marriage to Sonny Bono and her family’s struggles with addiction, felt heavy at times.

Though she reveals deeply personal moments, Cher admitted the process wasn’t exactly cathartic. “I don’t know if it was healing,” she said. “While I was talking about it, it was just exasperating and tiring.”

Still, moments of humour kept her going: “Then, there’d be something really funny, and I would go, ‘Okay, I can do this.’”

Initially hesitant to share too much, Cher said her first draft was more guarded. But she realised, “If you're going to tell your life, you've got to tell your life.” She ultimately decided to share as much as she could, only holding back on a few deeply private details.