Cher is looking back at her second marriage – and what went wrong.
The singer reflected on her relationship with Gregg Allman in her bestselling book, “Cher: The Memoir, Part One” and why she said “I do” so quickly.
According to the book, Cher’s divorce from her ex-husband Sonny Bono was finalized in June 1975 when she had already begun dating the rocker.
The now-78-year-old admitted that she had some reservations about her blossoming romance with the Allman Brothers Band singer.
CHER CONFESSES SONY BONO MARRIAGE DROVE THEM TO THOUGHTS OF MURDER AND SUICIDE IN DARKEST MOMENTS
“I didn’t know whether my relationship with Gregory would last or not,” the star wrote, as quoted by People magazine on Wednesday.
“I was living each day as it came,” she shared. “Then I found out I was pregnant, and we decided to get married.”
According to the outlet, Cher wanted to be married if she was having a baby.
“I just kept putting one foot in front of the other,” wrote Cher, as quoted by the outlet. “The future is never written in stone. I did what I thought was the right thing to do.”
The book noted that Cher’s sister Georganne “Gee” and her friend Paulette looked at the singer “as if I’d gone into an alternative universe” after telling them she was ready to tie the knot. In response, Cher said, “Come on, let’s just do this.”
The outlet noted that the wedding happened days after Cher’s divorce from Bono.
“There was nothing romantic about our wedding day,” the Oscar winner admitted.
Nine days after their wedding, Cher filed to dissolve the marriage. They reconciled.
The couple welcomed a son, Elijah Blue Allman, in 1976. However, they called it quits for good in 1979.
The New York Post previously reported that the “Believe” singer originally filed for divorce after allegedly finding a “plastic bag full of white powder” that belonged to her spouse.
Things only worsened when she later learned that Allman had a crippling addiction to heroin.
“[I] told him over the phone, ‘I’m just so tired of doing this, Gregory. I’m so tired of going to rehab with you,’” she recalled, as quoted by the outlet. “He was quiet on the other end of the line. ‘But I keep going,’ he said softly.”
“His answer stopped me in my tracks because it was true,” Cher continued. “He kept going to rehab, kept trying to get clean, kept making an effort despite failing in the past. In that moment, instead of thinking of my own exhaustion, I empathized with him.”
Cher wrote that her “breaking point” came after Allman suffered “a paranoid breakdown” one night.
“[He] insisted he saw men with guns in the backyard,” the Grammy winner wrote.
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She called the moment “the last straw.”
“It [was] not safe for the kids,” said Cher. “It only happened once, but I couldn’t risk it.”
The “I’m No Angel” singer died in 2017 from liver cancer. He was 69.
Alan Paul, author of “Brothers and Sisters: The Allman Brothers Band and the Inside Story of the Album That Defined the ‘70s,” previously told Fox News Digital that the late star “never stopped loving” Cher.
“Gregg didn’t like to talk about Cher that much,” said Paul. “People took that for disliking her, having aggression toward her, or something. I don’t believe that was ever the case. I think it was the opposite.”
Paul said that looking at their marriage, it was clear neither of them was prepared for what was to come.
“Gregg at the time was a full-blown drug addict, and he was struggling to overcome it,” he explained. “He did go in and out of rehab several times. He had periods where he was able to overcome it. He talked about that very openly. Cher, even though she had been in Hollywood and a celebrity since she was 16-17, was quite naive. She didn’t understand what that meant.”
“Gregg at one point, early in their relationship, says to her, ‘Just go home. Pretend this was a trip to Disneyland. It was fun while it lasted. Now go home,’” said Paul. “He couldn’t bring himself to tell her he was an addict. Cher is completely crushed, angry, blown away. In her mind, everything is going great. She’s basically like, ‘What the hell’s going on?’”
Paul alleged that Allman “cried for almost an hour” before he could muster up the courage to tell her, “I’m a junkie.”
“The good news is I’m crazy mad in love with you, but the bad news is I have a problem,” he told her.
An “unbothered” Cher allegedly said, “That’s OK – we can beat that.”
“You don’t understand,” he pleaded. “I would steal your mama’s TV.”
Paul claimed that Cher was confident it was an obstacle they could overcome together.
“Her reaction was like, ‘That’s fine, it’s a problem, and we’ll fix it,’” he explained. “She understood it as a problem, but she thought it was something where you go to a doctor, you could go to rehab, and you’ll be better. She didn’t understand… And Gregg talked so openly about that… From the very beginning of their relationship, it was overshadowed by his drug use.”
Part two of Cher’s memoir is scheduled to be published in 2025.
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