Inside Cher's wild love life – Top Gun hunks, co-star romances and heartbreaking losses

Hollywood icon and legendary singer Cher has dated some of the most famous musicians in history – including her marriages to Greg Allman and Sonny Bono.

Along with reported flings with Eric Clapton, Gene Simmons and Lee Dudek, Cher has talked openly about her love life, including revealing some of the Hollywood hunks she considered to be her ‘top five lovers’ of all time.

She has also spoken openly about the men she considered the loves of her life, as well as the reasons behind her splits from partners including Rob Callametti.

As Cher celebrates her 76th birthday on May 20, 2022, Daily Star takes an inside look at the singer’s wild love life.

Sonny Bono

Cher’s most famous relationship was her marriage to singer Sonny Bono, who the star went on to record hits with including I’ve Got You Babe – as well as landing their own TV show.

The couple met shortly after Cher left school at the age 16, with the singer telling Parade: “I swear to God, the moment I saw Sonny, everyone else in the room disappeared.

“He was the coolest guy ever.”

Sonny and Cher later married in 1964 and welcomed one child together, but divorced in 1974 due to “irreconcilable differences.”

During their time working together, it is reported that Sonny took 95% of the earnings from their show, with 5% of the money going to lawyers, something Cher told The Guardian that she ended up ‘with nothing’ after 11 years of them working together.

However she said she could not stay mad at him, revealing: “The day we got our divorce, he grabbed me, bent me backwards and kissed me, and we were hysterical.

“I couldn’t keep angry with him for some reason. I had a lot of anger, but I couldn’t stay angry.”

Despite their divorce, the couple became close friends again, with Cher later giving the eulogy at Sonny’s funeral, following his death from a skiing accident in 1998.

Greg Allman

Five days after finalizing her divorce from Sonny Bono, Cher married the late, legendary rock musician Gregg Allman after meeting him at one of his shows in 1973, with the songwriter saying in his 2012 book My Cross To Bear: “She smelled like I would imagine a mermaid would smell.”

However, it is reported that Cher filed for divorce nine days later due to Gregg Allman’s drink and drugs problems, with J. Randy Taraborrelli’s biography Cher stating that the star said: “He was so high he didn’t even understand me.”

Gregg addressed his addiction issues and the couple stayed together, but he later filed for divorce after Cher reunited with ex Sonny Bono, for a new Sonny and Cher show in 1976.

They decided to stay together after Cher revealed she was pregnant with their son Elijah Blue, but following their flop duet album Two The Hard Way, the couple went their separate ways in 1977.

Reflecting on their relationship, Cher called him one of the loves of her life, telling The Guardian: “Gregory was a special man.

“He tried hard to get off them [drugs]. One time we were going to a rehab and I said: ‘I’m so tired of doing this,’ and he said: ‘So am I. And I keep doing it for you.”

Following Gregg Allman’s death on May 27, 2017, Cher paid tribute to him in an emotional twitter post, saying: “I’ve tried…words are impossible Gui Gui. Forever, Chooch.”

David Geffen

David Geffen is one of the biggest names in the music business, after setting up a record label that worked with the likes of rock legends Guns ‘n’ Roses.

He originally met Cher in the sixties, with the couple later entering a relationship in 1973 following her divorce from Sonny Bono.

Talking to The Express, Cher revealed that David Geffen was one of her romantic boyfriends, saying: “It was Valentine’s Day, there was a big note on my steering wheel (in my car) and a huge package from Van Cleef & Arpels and it was this mega-diamond bracelet… and he said, ‘I’ve never done this before,’ and I went, ‘Well, I’m glad that I was the one’.”

Although it is rumoured that they talked about marriage, she added that she was frightened to enter into another following her divorce from Sonny Bono, adding: “I was crazy about him… I was just the right person for him (at that point in his life).

“I just had been married (and) I was just so frightened of it.”

The singer later called off her relationship with the music producer, but it was revealed that it affected David so much that he “could not get out of bed some days,” according to the 2001 biography The Operator.

David Geffen later came out as gay and is now best known for being one of the founders of Dreamworks film studio, responsible for hits including Shrek.

Top Gun hunks

During the eighties, Cher dated not one, but two of the decade’s hunkiest Hollywood stars and Top Gun actors Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise.

After Hollywood icon Meryl Streep threw a birthday party for Cher in 1984, the singer crossed paths with upcoming actor Val Kilmer, telling People Magazine that he was: “sensitive, artistic, humor and he is a great kisser. My rule of thumb, and it’s never failed me, is if a man’s a good kisser he’s a great f***.”

Although their relationship only lasted a few months, Cher would unknowingly go on to date Val’s future Top Gun co-star Tom Cruise – with Tom and Val’s characters Maverick and Ice Man famously feuding in the film.

It is not known exactly when they dated, apart from in the mid-eighties, but Cher described him as one of her top five lovers of all time.

Speaking to talk show host Andy Cohen, she said: “It was pretty hot and heavy for a little minute. He’s a great guy. The person that I knew was a great and lovable guy.”

However due to their conflicting work schedules, the couple parted ways after only a few months, but Cher revealed on the Oprah Winfrey show that she was “crazy about him,” and that it could have been a “great romance,” if not for their conflicting work commitments.

Josh Donen

By 1985, Cher was dating the agent of her former flame Val Kilmer, Josh Donen – but it was revealed that initially the couple did not like each other.

However after the duo were brought together by a professional project, romance blossomed between the unlikely couple and they went on to date for over one year, before splitting up in 1986.

Speaking about Cher in 1985 however, Josh Donen told People Magazine: “I am lucky to have found one of the rare people.

“She is attractive, lively, intelligent, dynamic, funny, interesting, vulnerable, pained, and happy. Falling in love with Cher has really connected me and the world, filled all the holes in my life.”

Rob Callametti

Following her relationship with Josh Donen, Cher dated aspiring actor Rob Callametti, who at the time was working at a bagel shop and was given the name ‘bagel boy’, by the press.

Describing him to The Guardian as one of the loves of her life, the couple dated for over three years in the late eighties, during the time that Cher rose to fame as an actress in films including Moonstruck.

Following their split, it is reported that Rob became a pilot to the stars, but Cher told Female First that she will always blame the paparrazi for ending their romance.

She said: “There was drama in the end but it had nothing to do with him and me. It was just that the paparazzi ruined our lives completely.

“There were two of them that were following us and we got a restraining order against them.”

Tim Medvetz

Cher’s love for Harley Davidson motorcycles brought her into contact with her next flame, Tim Medvetz, after the duo were introduced by mutual friends and bonded over their love for the machines.

The couple dated on and off for over four years between 2008 and 2012, with rumours that the couple were planning to marry in Las Vegas, but the rumours were denied by the singer’s representatives.

Cher later revealed in a 2013 interview that she was single, telling Notebook: “I just broke up with someone, but I need a little bit of a break.

“I don’t believe in going from one [relationship] to another — I have girlfriends that won’t leave someone they’re with until they have someone to move on to, and you just can’t do that.”

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk