Cher has stunned fans by sharing her surprising reaction upon learning her real name, admitting she was initially shocked to discover the truth behind her identity.
Noting in her new memoir Cher: The Memoir, Part One, which was released on November 19, the 78-year-old music legend, who was born Cherilyn Sarkisian, recalled the time when she requested a copy of her birth certificate in 1979.
She shared that she was “shocked” to discover that her first name was recorded as Cheryl.
"I believed Cherilyn was my name until the day years later when I decided to legally change my name to simply Cher," she wrote, explaining how the mix-up occurred.
Reflecting on the time of her birth, in 1946, her then 19-year-old mother, Georgia Holt delivered her, Cher noted, "She was exhausted by the time I arrived at around 7:30 a.m. on Monday, May 20.”
The Mask star stated, “My mother had no idea, but the woman insisted so she replied, 'Well, Lana Turner's my favorite actress and her little girl's called Cheryl. My mother's name is Lynda, so how about Cherilyn?”
Upon knowing the error in her birth certificate, Cher asked her mother, "Do you even know my real name, Mom?"
She stated that her mother took the document from her grasp, examined it, and then just shrugged.
Georgia told Cher, "I was only a teenager, and I was in a lot of pain. Give me a break."
To note, the Believe singer changed her name in 1979.
She shortened her first name to Cher and dropped the four surnames she had at the time: her birth name Sarkisian.
After she was adopted by her stepfather in 1961 she got the name LaPiere, which she also later dropped.
Cher also got Bono and Allman from her marriages to Sunny Bono and Gregg Allman.
