Cher reveals she was ‘shocked’ when she discovered her real name after a birth certificate error

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Music icon Cher was completely surprised by the legal name on her birth certificate when she decided to change her name at the age of 33.

The “Believe” star recently published the first part of her long-awaited memoir, “Cher: The Memoir, Part One,” in which she described how she discovered that the name her mother gave her as a baby was not the name she actually got. was on her birth certificate.

According to Peopleshe explained how this happened, writing in her memoir, “I believed Cherilyn was my name until the day years later when I decided to legally change my name to just Cher.”

Cher spills the beans on her birth certificate error

The 78-year-old music legend – born Cherilyn Sarkisian – revealed in her new memoir, published on November 19, how she was ‘shocked’ to discover her first name was registered as Cheryl when she requested a copy of her date of birth. certificate from 1979.

According to People, Cher’s mother, Georgia Holt, gave birth to the star in 1946 after a “long, unmedicated labor” when she was just 19 years old.

“She was exhausted when I arrived around 7:30am on Monday May 20th,” Cher wrote. “A nurse came to her mother’s room while she was recovering and asked what name she planned to give her baby.”

She added: “My mother had no idea, but the woman insisted, so she replied, ‘Well, Lana Turner is my favorite actress and her little girl’s name is Cheryl. My mother’s name is Lynda, so what about Cherilyn? ‘”

But Cher’s name was incorrectly written as Cheryl on her birth certificate.

“Do you know my real name, Mom?” Cher asked her mother after discovering the error in the birth certificate. After Cher’s mother took the document from her hands, she looked at it and smiled.

“I was just a teenager and in a lot of pain. Give me peace,” Georgia said in response to her daughter.

The Grammy Award winner legally changed her name to the short version (Cher) in 1979 and removed the four surnames she had at the time: Bono and Allman from her previous marriages to Sonny and musician Greg Allman; her birth name, Sarkisian; and her stepfather’s last name, LaPiere.

Explaining why Cher decided to legally change her name, she told Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show,” “I like it. It’s better for me than people wondering whether to call me Mrs. Allman or Mrs. Bono or Mrs. Bono Allman or Miss. Cher or whatever.”

The “If I Could Turn Back Time” singer added, “I mean, ‘Cher’ is fine. Just ‘Cher’,” said E! News.

Look at what she learned from mother Georgia Holt

Cher’s mother Georgia Holt was hospitalized for pneumonia in September 2022 and died in December of the same year at the age of 96. The ‘Moonstruck’ actress shared the heartbreaking news X (formerly known as Twitter), with the simple caption: “Mom’s gone.”

Cher revealed herself People in 2013 what she had learned from her mother, who was also an actress and musician, and had never given advice to the singer and her sister Georganne “because honestly she knew we would never accept it”.

“Instead, we learned about life by listening to her talk about the things she did wrong and the things she did right,” she explained.

Cher recalled admiring her late mother’s glitter. “She and her friends were so beautiful. When they entered the room, everything stopped. She was also a great dresser,” she said.

The legendary musician also acknowledged that she was “very stubborn” as a child and that her erratic behavior caused her mother problems.

“I did a few things, like running away when I was 11. I got on the train with my friends. I was just very adventurous, but never disrespectful. She wouldn’t have put up with that,” Cher said.

The first part of the memoir details Cher’s early years, her early achievements, and her relationship with her first husband, singer-songwriter Sonny Bono. The second part is scheduled for release in 2025, per The mirror.