She’s a DOWN-TOEARTH MOM
THE POP DIVA’S SON REVEALS HIS MOM’S SURPRISINGLY AVERAGE APPEAL
Snap out of it!” It’s Cher’s classic Moonstruck line, but one Chaz Bono could playfully use himself when his mom is be- ing a bit overbearing. “I’m always going to be her kid, but she does say those things where I’m like, ‘OK, I’m 48, but thank you,’ ” Chaz jokes to Closer.
Just like with any parent-child relationship, though, Chaz’s dynamic with his 71-year-old mom is evolving. “She’s gotten older,” he said at the Hollywood launch party for the book Inside Studio 54: The Real Story of Sex, Drugs and Rock ’n’ Roll, “and now she depends on me for things.” After all, despite Cher’s fame, fortune and flamboyant style, the superstar is just like everybody else. “She’s a very downto-earth person,” Chaz insists.
Chaz, an aspiring actor since the age of 14, is now starring on American Horror Story, and he’s grateful for the enduring support his mom’s given him every step of the way. “She’s a fan of my work,” he beams. “I’ve been doing theater in LA for four years, so while I was quietly back in acting class and starting to do stuff around town, she’s been there.”
Any advice the Oscar winner is able to give her child has been learned from her own struggles. “It was really hard for my mom to start acting when she did,” Chaz notes. “She had a lot of people who didn’t want to hire her, and I’ve experienced a lot of that.”
Born Chastity and raised in the spotlight by Cher and dad Sonny Bono on their Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, Chaz admits he doesn’t watch old clips of himself on that show. “Generally, transgender people don’t enjoy seeing images of ourselves before our transition,” he explains of his 2008 to 2010 gender reassignment. Besides, he’d much rather concentrate on sharing his success with his mom.
“We’re in the best place we’ve ever been,” Cher says of their still-growing bond. “We’re creating memories, and we’ve actually had the most fun together lately than we’ve had in forever.”— Ron Kelly, with reporting by Katie Bruno
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