Cher

My mom said to me, 'You know, sweetheart, one day you should settle down and marry a rich man. I said, "Mom, I am a rich man."

Don’t buy into the idea that women aren’t strong enough to do anything they want on their own.

You don’t pay bucks to stand and look at someone. They’ve got to deliver something.

Cher (born Cherilyn Sarkisian on May 20, 1946) is an American recording artist, actress, director, and record producer.

Quotes

• Women are the real architects of society.[1]
• You don't have to be smart to act — look at the outgoing president of the United States.
  • Remark (December 1988), reported in Brewer's Cinema (1995)

• I think men are the coolest, but you don't really need them to live. My mom said to me, 'You know, sweetheart, one day you should settle down and marry a rich man. I said, "Mom, I am a rich man."
  • 1996 interview with Jane Pauley for Dateline, quoted in "Taylor Swift Referenced This Iconic Cher Quote In The "You Need To Calm Down" Video" Bustle (June 17, 2019)

• Follow this you bitches.
  • Monologue - The Farewall Tour (2005)

• Try to be in as many relationships as you can.
  • A tip to happiness, as quoted in an interview with Gene Simmons, on extra TV (2008)

• I love having boyfriends. A girl can wait for the right man to come along – but in the meantime that doesn’t mean she can’t have a wonderful time with all the wrong ones.
  • "Cher Genius", an interview in You magazine, the Mail on Sunday (UK) newspaper (28 November 2010), interviewed by Elaine Lipworth in Las Vegas.

• Don’t buy into the idea that women aren’t strong enough to do anything they want on their own.
  • ‘"Cher Genius", You magazine, the Mail on Sunday (UK) newspaper (28 November 2010)

• "WTF is MDNA?
  • Tweet on Twitter, mentioned in an interview Cher talks about the "WTF is MDNA? (2013)

• You don’t pay bucks to stand and look at someone. They’ve got to deliver something...And I’ve worked my whole life to keep my strength in my body. There are 20-year-old girls who can’t do what I do.
  • On how plastic surgery is not enough to sustain relevance and vitality in "Cher at 74: 'There are 20-year-old girls who can’t do what I do’" in The Guardian (2020 Dec 14)

• You know, we had such a strange relationship. The day we got our divorce, he grabbed me, bent me backwards and kissed me, and we were hysterical. I couldn’t keep angry with him for some reason. I had a lot of anger, but I couldn’t stay angry.
  • On her marriage to Sonny Bono and their divorce in "Cher at 74: 'There are 20-year-old girls who can’t do what I do’" in The Guardian (2020 Dec 14)

• I love standing on the stage and singing. The feeling you have in your body when you sing.
  • On what motivates Cher to perform in "Cher at 74: 'There are 20-year-old girls who can’t do what I do’" in The Guardian (2020 Dec 14)

• A lot of the biggest entertainers are shy. I’ve always been shy. But once I’m on stage and get hold of an audience, I know I can bring the room together as one. No matter how many thousands of people, I can bring it to where they are all friends. If you have a heartbreak or a sickness, for 90 minutes I can make you forget.
  • On not being as extroverted as people might think in "Cher at 74: 'There are 20-year-old girls who can’t do what I do’" in The Guardian (2020 Dec 14)

Quotations about Cher

Music industry

• Beyoncé: "I love that in the seventies Cher and Diana Ross looked like superstars and never played it safe. When they were onstage, they gave you drama—and I love drama." [2]

• Christina Aguilera:
  • "I have always had tremendous respect for her. She is a woman who did everything before anyone else did it. She is an icon and she inspired me through some of my career. We've had similar costumes too!" [3]
  • [Describing her first meeting with Cher] I went in for a dance rehearsal on the Sony lot. I had sweat pants on and my little flat shoes, and my son on my hip. The studio head came up to me and said, 'Oh, you've got to meet Cher.' She was on another soundstage rehearsing for her Vegas show. I told him I wasn’t dressed to meet Cher. I needed high heels. I needed to feel good about myself to meet Cher." [4]
  • "I had told the studio head to stalk and beg Cher to do the movie [Burlesque]. I told him to tell her that I was such a big fan that I would drink her bath water if she did the movie. So, when we were introduced, I said: 'Yes, I'm the one who wants to drink your bath water.'" [5]
  • "Cher and I had more personal talks about love and relationships. She has been through the gamut of marriages and divorces, and I consider her a wise woman. She's someone I look to as a mentor, both personally and professionally." [6]

• Gwen Stefani: "[Cher] proved there's nothing she cannot do. She's a role model for showing us how to be strong and true to ourselves [and] a woman who is truly the definition of the word Icon."

• Lady Gaga: "[On the outfit Cher wears in the music video for the song "If I Could Turn Back Time"] I dress like that! That's my everyday look. Maybe just sort of subliminally when I was younger, without even realizing it, one day I knew that [Cher] was the kind of woman I would become." [7]

• Pink: "[On writing for Cher's Closer to the Truth album] It's such an honor. I finally feel like a songwriter. And I'm such a fan." [8]

• Tori Amos: "Cher has been able to show people that as she ages, she’s still sexy and sensual." [9]

Film industry

• Drew Barrymore: "She’s strong and comedic and incredibly brave, but shows vulnerability. I think she’s the epitome of rock & roll." [10]

• Whoopi Goldberg: "Elvis. Sinatra. Cher. There have been a handful of entertainers who are instantly recognizable by just one name. She not only marches to the beat of her own drum honey, she is a one woman band. In a word — she’s Cher." [11]

• Sarah Paulson: "I smelt Cher. I smelt the back of Cher’s head ... Because I really love Cher; I think a lot of people love her for her music which I do, but I think she’s one of the great actresses, I really do. So I was in her presence and I really wanted to go up to her but I was too nervous, so instead I went to the back of her and sort of pushed my nose between her hairs, parted it, and just hung out there for the count of, 'One-one thousand, two-one thousand'. She was about to turn around so I jumped and went back." [12]

Fashion industry

• Marc Jacobs: "[Working with Cher] has been a dream of mine for a very, very long time. [Growing up,] other boys were out fascinated by other things, [but] I was like, no, I'd really much rather see what Cher's wearing this week." [13]