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whose success seems to be based as much on her unpredictability as upon her talents. Just when you think that she has done it all, sung it all, or accomplished it all, Cher recreates herself and takes on a whole new persona. She’s an acknowledged pillar of self-determination, and her career has had both strength and longevity. As the reigning mannequin of the “me” generation, she has worn many labels, but she can only be described with one name that says it all: “Cher!”
    As the consummate Renaissance woman, Cher calls her own shots, and she is in total control of her own destiny. She’s forceful and direct, and she speaks her mind. In 1978, sick of being tagged with the surnames of her father, stepfather, and ex-husbands, Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere Bono Allman legally shortened her name to just one word, Cher. To her it marked her independence from every one of the men in her life. In the 1980s she went through a succession of younger men, including actors Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise and ABC-TV executive Josh Donen. And then there was her famed affair with Robert Camilletti, the “Bagel Boy” who was only twenty-two when forty-year-old Cher started dating him. She also had her rock and roll boyfriend phases with Gene Simmons of KISS, Les Dudek, and Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi.
    She is not a women’s rights proponent by petitioning and picketing, but she is a “people’s rights” symbol, simply by standing up and speaking her mind and saying what she feels. As she independently proclaimed, “This is my life—and I get to do everything I want to do. I don’t really care what anybody thinks” (4).
    According to her, “I’m a good performer, not a great performer. I don’t know what I have, but I know I’ve got something, and I think people like me. I know I make mistakes, and I will continue to make mistakes, but I don’t care if people agree with what I do. If I ever had a chance to be somebody better or prettier or whatever, I wouldn’t want it. I love being me” (5).
    “I don’t answer to anyone except myself,” she insists.
I can be very independent if necessary, and most of the time, I am. Basically, I think I’m a lot more moral than most people. I don’t do drugs and I don’t drink—I’ve spoken out against them over and over again—and I think you must have a meaningful relationship with somebody, even if it’s your dog. I don’t think I really care if what I’m doing makes sense to everybody else. If it makes sense to me, that’s all that’s important (6).
    Simultaneously, her ex-partner, Sonny Bono, had a post-Cher life that was as event-filled as that of the diva-in-the-making he had once married. He had found stardom with Cher, dressed as a Bohemian hippie in bobcat fur vests in the 1960s, yet by the 1990s he had transformed himself into a conservative Republican congressman in Washington, D.C. He had gone from singer to restaurateur to successful actor in Hairspray to become the mayor of Palm Springs, and finally to the halls of Congress. Although they had reunited once in 1988 on network television, Sonny and Cher’s once-inseparable friendship was strained at best. While Cher at first reluctantly embraced their daughter’s lesbianism, it was Sonny who easily accepted the news. Although since the 1970s they had been estranged and combative with each other, Sonny’s life and Cher’s life will forever remain interwoven.
    And yet, with all that is known about Cher, there are so many unanswered questions. What was the truth about Cher sleeping with Warren Beatty when she was a teenager? What happened the night Cher saved the life of a drugged-out rock star at a Hollywood party? To what ends did she attempt to get Gregg Allman off of drugs? What role did Jackie Kennedy play in turning Cher into a Vogue magazine fashion model? How did Cher react when her daughter Chastity was “outed” by the tabloid newspapers, and then publicly “came out”? How did Cher feel when she