Cher on Life, Beauty & Men

Cher at 64, and Other Beautiful Forces of Nature

When I read an interview with Cher talking candidly on life present and past, it lead me to reflect on how such icons lives, with all their failings and successes have captivated young women through the ages. Mine in particular.  I couldn't work out why she in all her gloriousness was partnered with Sonny way back when.  And, that lead to reminiscing on my memory of the inimitable Elizabeth Taylor and her past indiscretions. Back in the fifties we would gather in the shelter sheds (old primary school buildings used when you went out at lunchtime, rain, hail or shine), to discuss how she could have stolen the gorgeous Debbie Reynold's husband.  I guess that was before the soaps and reality TV took away all life's mysteries.  Anyway,back to Cher  and her interview which I thought was sufficiently interesting to bring to this website.  Read on and link to Life Goes Strong for further Interesting Articles.

Cher Talks Beauty, Men, "Burlesque," and That Killer Bod
Our exclusive one-on-one talk with the Hollywood icon-  By: Cindy Pearlman April 7, 2011

The one and only Cher remains a force of nature.

If I could turn back time, I would have had a cocktail.

Why? I was about to meet the woman, the legend, the diva and the icon who really is a four-letter word: CHER.

After 20 year of covering celebrities, my pulse remained calm with Clooney, relaxed with Roberts, and peaceful with Pitt.

But this was freakin' Cher who is not just a 64-year-old legend — she is a state of mind.

Cher's peeps summoned me to a secret suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills to talk about her new movie "Burlesque," which is now out on DVD.

Nothing could prepare me for the moment when Cher just materialized in the doorway of room 202 like she had borrowed Capt. Kirk's beaming devise. She was just there….

In liquid tight black jeans.

In a matching black sweater with a sprinkle of tiny gold dots.

Her hair is only shoulder length these days because even Cher knows that her gypsies, tramps, and thieves days are over. However, her tootsies don't know about birthdays. Nothing says "I Still Got It" like sky-high black stilettos.

Most women would need a ladder to walk down from those shoes, but Cher struts around in them like they're flats.

Then there's the diamond encrusted snake ring that wraps around her long, slim index finger. Twirling it around, she finally takes her seat inches away from you. The dusky voice is softer than what one might imagine and her miles of dark lashes gaze down towards the carpeting.

Is Cher shy? Well, not really. Ask for her beauty secrets and she slaps your knee. (I might never wash that knee again.)

"Oh honey," Cher says. "That made my day! My beauty secrets." Then she leans in as if she's about to reveal the secrets of the universe. "It's just 5,000 people up in my hotel room getting me ready. It takes approximately five hours," she says.

She laughs in a deep throaty way that's contagious. There is no vaccine.

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK…OR ELSE

"I love when people ask me about coming back," she quips. "Where was I? Pluto?"

Cher is not just back in movies, but she just finished a sell-out stint at Caesar's Palace. She was even hip enough to present Lady Gaga with her MTV Award last year. Ask Cher about that fashion statement and she just shakes her head. Gaga was wearing her now-famous meat dress.

As someone who always wore outlandish Bob Mackie clothing what did Cher think of someone who used sirloin as a fashion statement?

"I thought Lady Gaga asked me to hold her mink purse. It was her meat purse. This was a steak. But I must say that I've seen weirder things in life," Cher says.

It turns out that age is just a number to Cher, which is why she upstages everyone in "Burlesque," a guilty pleasure of a film that's a great Girl's Night In selection. Cher's name is over the title. "I refuse to move over gracefully. You'll have to haul me over – and pull hard," she says of her place in Hollywood.

In "Burlesque," she plays Tess, a street-smart, mama bird type who runs a hot LA club on Sunset Avenue where young babes like Christina Aguilera strut their very firm stuff.

"It was a weird thing to play someone who supports the young girls, but this is reality. I'm not 20 now. I don't look at younger women and resent them. I admire them. I want to support younger women and guide them," Cher opines.

USE FEAR TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

Cher also wants to get back on the big screen. She won an Academy Award for slapping Nick Cage across the kisser and screaming "snap out of it" in "Moonstruck." After a decade in acting retirement, Cher admits that she was terrified to get back in front of the camera.

She says fear can be your best friend.

"I'm always terrified," Cher says. "That's the way I roll. I'm always terrified in the beginning of anything in my life and then I live it. That's when I know it will be okay."

She has two singing and dance numbers in the film and admits that her bod didn't always cooperate. (Why is it comforting to know that Cher's quads hurt after a good workout, too?)

"There's a scene where Stanley Tucci helps me with my big girl shoes and I scream, 'Ow,'" she says. "In real life, I'm thinking, 'Ow, my foot, my back, my shoulder…..'

"I've spent a lifetime throwing myself around, dancing, falling and being dropped by dancers," she says. "It's a good metaphor for life. You fall. Someone drops you. You get back up."

Mostly jaws just drop around Cher, who doesn't quite understand why she's naturally intimidating. She shrugs and says, "I've been doing this for 45 years. My personality is my personality. The moment someone spends time with me, they feel fine. For the others out there who think I'm some icon, I just want to scream, 'But I'm not doing anything! I'm just being me!'

"I just can't imagine someone being afraid of me or even nervous around me," she says. "I'm just Cher."

In other words: Snap out of it!