In the most Cher of surprises, the legendary diva has dropped a bombshell in her new memoir, Cher: The Memoir, Part One. The twist? For decades, Cher thought her name was Cherilyn. Turns out, it was Cheryl. Cue the gasp.
“I was today years old when I found out my name,” Cher basically admitted (but, you know, in her fabulous way). The 78-year-old queen of reinvention thought Cherilyn was her destiny until she tried to make it official. She marched into the name-change office (probably in an iconic outfit), ready to legally become just Cher, only to learn she had been Cheryl all along.
“Excuse me, Cheryl who?”
Recounting the moment in her book, Cher described herself as “shocked,” which is probably the understatement of the century. This is Cher, after all—an icon, a legend, a one-name phenomenon. Cheryl just doesn’t scream “international superstar.” It screams, “I bake casserole for PTA meetings.”
Blame It on Mama
So, how did this happen? Flashback to 1946, when Cher’s 19-year-old mom went through the birthing gauntlet: an unmedicated labor a month early that lasted long enough for Netflix to drop three seasons of a show. Exhausted and probably over it, her mom was asked by a nurse to name her newborn.
The reply? A mix of Hollywood glam and sleep deprivation. “Lana Turner’s daughter is Cheryl, and my mom’s name is Lynda, so let’s smash them together and call her Cherilyn,” she supposedly said, likely before passing out. The nurse, either distracted or just really into shortcuts, apparently went rogue and scribbled down Cheryl.
When Cher confronted her mom decades later, asking how such a monumental mix-up could happen, her mom basically said, “Girl, I was 19 and in pain. Be grateful I didn’t name you Epidural.”
From Cheryl to Cher
Of course, Cheryl was never going to stick. By the time she hit the big time, it was clear this future legend didn’t need two syllables, let alone three. And thus, Cher was born—or reborn, depending on how you look at it.
Moral of the story? Even Cher wasn’t always Cher. But Cheryl? She doesn’t know her.
