In her newly released memoir, Cher recounts her first meeting with her estranged father, Johnnie Sarkisian, and how a simple question about a pair of shoes helped bridge the gap between them. .
According to Radar Online, the 78-year-old music icon wrote in her memoir about a touching reunion when she was just 11 years old.
Sarkisian left Cher and her mother, Georgia Holt, during Cher’s toddler years, and she knew so little about him that all she could recall were vague memories of him being a “silhouette”.
Cher remembers her mother asking if she would be willing to meet Sarkisian after he contacted her more than a decade after Holt divorced a famous billionaire.
Even though she called another man “dad”, Cher still agreed to meet him, filled with curiosity but also a little fear.
“I didn’t have a burning desire to meet him, but there was a small part of me that was always curious,” Cher wrote.
She remembered opening the door and seeing Sarkisian standing before her, soon feeling like a mirror image with similar features and instant recognition.
The meeting opened with an unexpected discussion about clothing styles. Cher asked him, “what are they made of?” And he answered proudly, “Alligator.” When she asked how much they cost, he told her how much they cost—$1,100—which left Cher dead. quiet.
When night fell and Sarkisian even lingered for dinner, Cher observed the way he talked and behaved, seeing how much it resembled her.
“He seemed comfortable, easygoing and calm like me,” she reflected. The similarities made Cher feel that he was the “missing piece” in her life.
Despite these rampant relationships, Cher still had difficulty accepting Sarkisian as her biological father.
“Even though I know I’m Johnnie’s child, it’s hard for me to see him as my father,” she wrote. On the other hand, she said, he was something she couldn’t define.
The memoir also recounts other pivotal moments in Cher’s early life, including her tumultuous marriage to Sonny Bono and her encounters with iconic figures, including including John Lennon and Warren Beatty.
Cher’s candid thoughts have struck a chord with fans, who admire her willingness to tackle uncomfortable family issues with candor and vulnerability.
Tags Cher