The Real Reason Cher Had A Hard Time Accepting Chaz At First

Cher may be known as a gay icon who fiercely supports the LGBTQ+ community, but even she struggled to accepted her son, Chaz Bono, during his transition. "It was very unlike me to, in the beginning, have a problem with Chaz being gay, and it disappeared like that," Cher recalled in an interview with CNN on Dec. 17, 2020. "Then we talked about [whether Bono was] transgender for many years. And [he] would say, 'No, I don't want to [transition]. And then he went and said, 'Okay, I want to do this.'"

Chaz first began his transition in 2009, and since then, Cher said he is "so unbelievably happy." Her son even went on to become the first transgender person to appear on Dancing With the Stars in 2011.

However, Cher admitted it "wasn't easy" to accept her son at first, despite always having affection for the gay community. Recalling her "Introduction to the gay world," at 9 years old, she told CNN, "One day I came home and there were these two men in my living room with my mom and my aunt. They were doing their hair and talking, and I was thinking, 'Why haven't we ever had these kinds of guys around? Because these guys are the coolest.'" She added, that "gay people don't feel like they fit in, and I never felt like I fit in." Keep scrolling to see the real reason why Cher struggled to accept Chaz in the early stages of his transition.

Many families who've had a loved one transition, say the early days are much like grieving the death of the person they once were. Cher definitely felt a similar pain, admitting she used to call Chaz's old voicemail to hear his old voice. "That was very difficult," she told CNN.

Cher's sadness didn't last long, as she quickly realized that "you don't lose them," adding that, "they just are in a different shape." Chaz opened up about his transition to Oprah in 2011, admitting, "Life was always so much more difficult" before his transformation. "Especially going into puberty, it felt like the expectations around me started to change or how I was supposed to act, but it also felt as if my body was literally betraying me," he shared, adding, "I went from a very athletic, straight up and down little kid to a very curvaceous woman. It was just horrifying to me."

Chaz continued to reveal his mother struggled with his transition, but echoed her own remarks, sharing that she quickly snapped out of it. "The hard thing for my mom is that because she is a public figure and because she has this personality of being so cool about stuff and progressive, people forget that she's a parent," he explained. "The truth is a lot of parents never speak to their transgender kids again. That's not the case in my family. There's no doubt about her love for me."