She was born a girl, but as she grew older “I felt that my body was betraying me”. Chastity was the first and only child Cher and Bono had. At 40, he underwent a sex change operation and at 41, he officially became a man: Chaz Salvatore Bono. Cher has repeatedly confessed how difficult it was for her as a mother to come to terms with the transition: “It was a scary time. Not knowing is always scary.”
“I felt like my body was betraying me”
On March 4, 1969, after three miscarriages, Cher and Sonny Bono welcomed their first child. A girl they named Chastity. The little girl became a hugely popular face as she repeatedly appeared on her parents’ show – The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour – in the early 70s.
Sonny, Cher, and Chastity in ‘The Sonny And Cher Comedy Hour’ / Getty Images/CBS Photo Archive
He went through difficult times during his childhood. She was not able to identify with other girls, nor did she have the same interests or concerns. “Life has always been much more difficult. Especially as a teenager…I felt like my body was literally betraying me. I went from a very athletic woman to a very luscious woman. it was awful for me“, confessed Oprah Winfrey in 2011. She felt that her mother wanted a girl and played dress up with her..
“A very difficult change for a mother to digest”
When she turned 18, Chastity told Cher that she was a lesbian. Despite being an icon of the LGTBQ movement, the news was not well received. As she said herself, coming out of the closet at that time It meant a life with much more difficultyespecially considering the fame of his parents.
Cher, Chastity Bono and Sonny Bon in a photo from 1983 / Getty Images/Barry King
After coming out transgender, in 2009, she underwent sex reassignment surgery. For years, the mother and daughter had talked “over and over” about the issue. Cher explained to Britain’s Sunday Times magazine how she felt: “One day she decided to do it and the next day she said no. Finally, she did. It was a momentous decision, not something to be taken lightly. I went through a very difficult time. When she said ‘that’s what I want to do’, I said ‘well, if you’re miserable, do it’. But when he started doing itIt was a very difficult change for a mother to digest.”.
Cher admits that she struggled to accept that her daughter Chastity would become her son Chaz. Even so: “I offered him my full support. I had a daughter and now I was expecting a new son. There was a moment, in the middle of the whole process, when I didn’t know what I was going to do. I didn’t know how I was going to be my relationship It was a horrible time. Ignorance is always terrifying“.
Cher and Chastity Bono posing at the 9th Annual GLAAD Media Awards / Getty Images/Jim Smeal
Adjusting to Chaz’s new voice – altered by hormone treatment – was the hardest part. He confessed in an interview for CNN: “It was the strangest thing. I called one day and the message I heard on the answering machine was Chaz with a girl’s voice. I thought ‘God, I’m not going to hear that voice again! feeling of mourning. I asked Chaz if there was a way I could keep this voice and he told me, ‘I don’t think so, mum.'”
officially a man
The definitive next step in this difficult journey was taken by Chaz at the age of 41. On March 31, 2010, officially filed for a name and gender change in a Los Angeles court. A jury accepted the request and a few days later he was already a man in the eyes of the law. In this way, his new identity was reflected in official documents. Chaz Salvatore Bono was officially a man and “I couldn’t be happier,” he said in a statement.
Cher and Chaz Bono in a photo from 2010 / Getty Images/Barry King
In his interview with Oprah, Chaz confessed, “The truth is, there are a lot of parents who never talk to their trans kids again. My family doesn’t. I never doubted their love for me. Now everything is easier and cheaper. I feel like I’m on the same playing field as everyone else.”
“Chaz is so happy, so incredibly happy”
“Now I don’t see any difference since I don’t feel like a loss. This loss that I imagined I was going to experience, I don’t feel it at all and I don’t understand what problem people have. They are scared and don’t know how to react. Maybe religion plays a role, I’m not sure. I talk to people on Twitter, or people talk to me, and all I say is: “Calm down, you’ll get through this, you’ll get through this together.”