Cher’s unorthodox parenting style

Cher has found motherhood extremely challenging, said Krista Smith in Vanity Fair. A flamboyant showbiz diva for nearly five decades, she nonetheless raised two children largely as a single mom: Chastity, now Chaz, who was fathered by the late Sonny Bono, and Elijah Blue Allman, whose father is rocker Gregg Allman. “I did the best I could,” says the singer and actress, 64. Her children, she admits, often complained she was not a “normal” mother. “One time, when Chaz was little, we were on a field trip, and she said, ‘I’m so pissed off, Mom. You can never not be Cher.’”

Both kids battled drug problems, and several years ago, Chaz came out as a lesbian, surprising Cher, who said at the time she felt like the last to know. More recently, Chaz decided she was transgendered, had surgery, and is now living as a man. Cher says she’s adjusting. “She’s a smart, girl—boy! This is where I get into trouble. My pronouns are f---ed.” But she says she has nothing but respect for her firstborn. “If I woke up tomorrow in a guy’s body, I would just kick and scream and cry and f---ing rob a bank. I would not take it as well as Chaz has.”

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