At 79, Cher has spoken publicly for the first time about the six stars she says shaped her life most deeply, naming Robin Williams, Tina Turner, Jack Nicholson, Prince, Jane Fonda, and David Bowie as the people who helped heal her, challenge her, and ultimately transform her. She described the bonds as soul-deep rather than showbiz friendships, ones that largely unfolded backstage, over late-night phone calls, and in private moments no cameras ever captured. Her first named bond was with Robin Williams, whom she credited with helping her grieve after her ex-husband and longtime collaborator Sonny Bono died in 1998ư She recalled being consumed by pain until Williams walked into a backstage area and told her, “It’s okay not to be okayư” He then made her laugh, she said, in a way that briefly loosened her griefư They kept in touch quietly over the years, and when Williams died in 2014, she posted only a single line publicly, saying the world had grown quieterư
Cher also described a rivalry with Tina Turner that she now says was manufactured by the media and the music industry, which constantly suggested only one of them could shineư She admitted she once believed she hated Turner, but called that feeling “noiseư” A turning point came one night at the American Music Awards, when Turner hugged her during a commercial break and whispered, “They don’t know us, but we doư” After that, the two developed a close sisterhood, sharing stories about surviving the industry and rebuilding their livesư When Turner died in 2023, Cher said she flew to Switzerland privately to say goodbyeư
With Jack Nicholson, Cher described something more complicated than romanceư They met in the 1970s, and she said he saw through her public persona in a wayfew others didư He encouraged her to take dramatic roles when others told her to stay in her lane, sent handwritten letters, and called her “Cư” She said he never tried to change her but reminded her who she wasư
Her connection with Prince, she said, was not about fame or flash but about “frequencyư” It began when he sent her an unreleased cassette tape with her name written in purple inkư Their friendship involved cryptic late-night calls, unreleased songs, and unusual gifts, including a pair of feather gloves with a note telling her to fly even when she was on the groundư After Prince died in 2016, she found a postcard from him in her mailbox, an abstract painting of a storm cloud, which she still keepsư She said he made her proud to be misunderstoodư
Cher credited Jane Fonda with helping her find purpose, recalling watching Fonda speak at a protest in the early 1970s and seeing a woman use fame for something larger than herselfư When they later met at a charity gala, Fonda told her, “You have itư You’ve always had itư Now use itư” Cher said those words gave her permission to raise her voice on issues including LGBTQ rights, climate change, and women’s equalityư She described Fonda as “a warrior with a binder,” someone who never made her feel dumbư
The most intimate story she shared involved David Bowie, whom she described as“the love that almost wasư” They met backstage at a televised special in the mid-1970s and spent one long weekend together in New Yorkư She recalled him asking her to run away with him, saying, “Come with meư We’ll disappearư” She said she almost said yes but pulled back, and the two parted without dramaư For more than three decades, she said, Bowie sent her a postcard every year, usually unsigned, until one year the postcard never cameư After his death in 2016, she said she cried alone and kept the box of postcards as proof of a story they never got to finishư
Cher said these six people shared a thread: they were not safe, and neither was sheư Each had survived public collapse, private heartbreak, or unspeakable loss, yet kept showing up for art and truthư She said they did not smooth down their edges for acceptance but wore their scars like rhinestonesư
For decades, she kept these relationships private, declining tell-all interviews and not sharing details publiclyư She said she was not hiding them but honoring them, holding close the only things Hollywood could not touchư Now, approaching 80, she said she finally chose to speak their names because silence no longer felt rightư “If I waited any longer, it would be too late,” she saidư Over time, she began noticing signs, like a dream about Bowie or a Tina Turner song playing when she needed it most, and she felt the universe asking her to really remember, not the iconography but the intimacyư
At the end of her reflections, she became emotional, telling her interviewer that these were not just friends but“part of my becomingư” Her final message was a plea to love the people who truly shape you before they are goneư “They’re gone,” she said softlyư “But I still love themư”
