Mama said lock you up. That was the mother of all mantras after Cher’s mom, Georgia Holt , discovered that her underage daughter was shacking up with Sonny Bono. The new Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee — born Cheryl Sarkisian — was just 16 when she met a then-27-year-old Bono at a coffee shop.
But before the iconic duo went on to chart-topping success with “I Got You Babe” in 1965, she was more of a baby at the time. “I lied,” Cher, 78, admitted in an interview with Anthony Mason on “ CBS Sunday Morning ” to promote “Cher: The Memoir,” out Tuesday, Nov. 19.
“I lied to him a few times. I told him I was 18 and then someone said, ‘You know, I don’t think she’s 18.’ “So I said, ‘OK, I’m not 18 but next month is my birthday’ — which was true — ‘and I’m going to be 18.
’ And then I was 17. And my mom told him she was gonna put him in jail.” Cher moved in with Bono as what was basically a live-in housekeeper, with the agreement being that she would cook and clean in exchange for her rent.
But it was hardly “love at first sight” for the couple before they became the iconic music and TV duo who were married from 1964 to 1975. “I thought it was like when Tony met Maria,” Cher said, referencing the star-crossed “West Side Story” couple. “I mean, everybody disappeared and it was just the two of us.
But he didn’t like me.” In fact, Bono was blunt about that. “He said, ‘You know, you can come and stay with me.
’ An.