<\/p>\n Cher<\/strong><\/a> is clearing up any confusion for readers as to why she\u2019s referring to her son by his deadname in her new book.<\/p>\n \u201cThis memoir is based on my (sometimes imperfect) memory,\u201d Cher, 78, wrote in the author\u2019s note of Cher: The Memoir \u2014 Part One<\/em>. \u201cIn this memoir, I refer to my son Chaz as Chas, the name he went by during the years covered in this book. Chaz has granted his blessing for this usage. In the next volume, at the appropriate point, I will refer to my son as Chaz.\u201d<\/p>\n Cher dedicated her book \u2014 which hit shelves<\/a> on Tuesday, November 19 \u2014 to her mom, Georgia<\/strong>, her sister, Georganne<\/strong>, and her two kids: Chaz and Elijah. (Cher welcomed Chaz in 1969 with Sonny Bono<\/strong>, five years before she filed for divorce<\/a> from in 1974. The following year, she won custody over Chaz. Four days after finalizing her divorce from Bono, Cher married Gregg Allman<\/strong>. The pair welcomed Elijah in 1976 before splitting in 1979<\/a>.)<\/p>\n While chronicling Chaz\u2019s birth story in her memoir, Cher recalled Bono expressing his desire for a son. \u201c\u2018Remember, Cher, I want a boy!\u2019 he told me, laughing all the way,\u201d Cher wrote.<\/p>\n After giving birth to Chaz, Cher said Bono gushed over their little one. \u201cSonny came the next morning and told me we had a seven-pound-eight-ounce baby girl, and she was beautiful,\u201d she wrote. \u201cHe didn\u2019t seem to mind at all that she wasn\u2019t a boy. I named her Chastity Sun, \u2018Chastity\u2019 because it was my name in the film we\u2019d just made and \u2018Sun\u2019 after her dad.\u201d<\/p>\n Cher has been candid through the years about navigating motherhood after Chaz, now 55, first came out as lesbian before undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 2009.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was very unlike me to, in the beginning, have a problem with Chaz being gay, and it disappeared like that,\u201d Cher recalled to CNN<\/a> in 2020. \u201cThen we talked about [whether Chaz was] transgender for many years. And [he] would say, \u2018No, I don\u2019t want to [transition]. And then he went and said, \u2018OK, I want to do this.\u2019<\/p>\n You have successfully subscribed.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n![\"Why](\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Why-Cher-Refers-to-Son-Chaz-Using-His-Deadname-in-Book-138.jpg?w=1000&quality=86&strip=all\")
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\n Chaz Bono, Cher.<\/span> Amanda Edwards\/WireImage<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n![\"Why](\"https:\/\/www.usmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Why-Cher-Refers-to-Son-Chaz-Using-His-Deadname-in-Book-136.jpg?w=1000&quality=86&strip=all\")
<\/div>Thank You!<\/h3>\n
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