<\/p>\n
Inside Cher\u2019s incredible life and real estate portfolio. Photo: Angela Weiss \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Singing sensation Cher will be forced to pay the $1.43 million (US$1 million) in legal fees that she incurred during a bitter legal battle against ex-husband Sonny Bono\u2019s widow, Mary Bono, a judge has ruled.<\/p>\n
The 80-year-old pop icon, whose real name is Cheryl Sarkisian, launched a lawsuit against former California Rep. Bono in 2021, alleging that royalties from the songs that she and her ex-spouse had recorded together during their marriage were being withheld form her.<\/p>\n
She sought $1 million in damages from Bono, accusing her of trying to use \u201cwholly inapplicable statutory termination provision of the Copyright Act of 1976\u201d in order to terminate Cher\u2019s rights to hits like \u201cI Got You Babe\u201d and \u201cThe Beat Goes On.\u201d<\/p>\n
In May 2024, a judge ruled that Cher was owed more than $595,000 (US$418,000) in unpaid royalties, according to People magazine \u2014 however, that did not bring an end to the legal dispute. In January of this year, the songstress filed a request asking that Bono be made to pay the $1,458,751 (US$1,023,605.30) in legal fees that she had incurred during the battle.<\/p>\n
Now, that request has been denied, meaning that Cher will be forced to cover those costs herself.<\/p>\n
Cher and Sonny were together for more than a decade, tying the knot in an unofficial ceremony in 1964, when she was just 17, before legally marrying in 1969. During that time, they performed together as a wildly successful musical duo under the name Sonny & Cher. Sonny died in a skiing accident in 1998.<\/p>\n
They also welcomed a child together, Chaz Bono, who was born Chastity Sun, before their divorce in 1975.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Singing sensation Cher will be forced to pay the $1.43m (US$1m) in legal fees that she incurred during a bitter legal battle against ex-husband Sonny Bono\u2019s widow, Mary Bono, a judge has ruled. Harry Langdon\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
MORE: Fortune left behind by Diane Keaton revealed<\/a><\/p>\n Shock amount Daniel Craig earned from Bond<\/a><\/p>\n Sad\u2019: Vanished Fabio\u2019s life at 67, one \u2018regret\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n The judge\u2019s decision that Cher must pay her own legal fees in the battle against Bono marks the latest twist in what has been a tumultuous financial journey for the singer throughout her career \u2014 one that she has discussed in candid detail over the years.<\/p>\n In a 2010 interview with Vanity Fair, the \u201cBelieve\u201d singer admitted that, when her marriage to Sonny ended, she was left with \u201cno money and no way to live,\u201d explaining that, despite being surrounded by wealthy, successful friends \u2014 including Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, and Goldie Hawn \u2014 she felt like she \u201ccouldn\u2019t do anything\u201d to earn a living.<\/p>\n She later told \u201cThe Tonight Show\u201d host Jimmy Fallon in 2016 that she and Sonny had experienced a significant downturn in their careers toward the end of their relationship, leaving them with a staggering amount of debt and unpaid taxes.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the beginning, what happened \u2026 Sonny and I, we were really famous, and then our career just went off a hill. We had no money, we had no job, and we owed the government $396,000 (US$278,000). \u2026 We were broke a \u2014 broke.\u201d<\/p>\n While Cher did go on to find incredible success as a solo performer \u2014 as well as an actor and a model \u2014 that would not be the end of her financial difficulties, with the singer filing a lawsuit in 2016 against her financial managers, claiming that they had \u201cdefrauded\u201d her out of $1.85 million (US$1.3 million) between 2006 and 2007.<\/p>\n Today, it appears the singer is enjoying a much smoother ride, financially, with estimates placing her net worth at a staggering $513 million (US$360 million).<\/p>\n Inside Cher\u2019s property portfolio<\/p>\n Included in her impressive collection of assets is a staggering property portfolio, the crown jewel of which is the singer\u2019s longtime Malibu beach house, which was custom built for her in 1999 on a stunning parcel that she picked up for $4.2 million (US$2.95 million), following a lengthy search for the perfect location.<\/p>\n The seven-bedroom dwelling \u2014 which sits on nearly 2 acres just off the iconic Pacific Coast Highway \u2014 features an exotic European-inspired aesthetic, both inside and out.<\/p>\n Having worked with builder Wallace Tutt III on the creation of the 13,200-square-foot mansion, Cher then enlisted her close friend, designer Ron Wilson, to help her bring her vision for the Italian Renaissance-style abode to life, filling it with incredible pieces sourced from around the world \u2014 including tile from Morocco, art pieces from Asia, and marble imported from France.<\/p>\n In the years since the home was completed, Cher has carried out several updates to it, turning it into what she previously described to Architectural Digest as her personal \u201csanctuary.\u201d<\/p>\n However, in recent years, she has attempted to move on from her longtime \u201cfortress,\u201d initially putting it on the market for $121 million (US$85 million) in 2022, although that price was later lowered to $75 million in May 2023.<\/p>\n At the time, she told AD that, while the home had been \u201cone of the greatest passions\u201d of her life, she was ready to create a new sanctuary elsewhere \u2014 and allow someone else to experience the \u201cmagic\u201d of her Malibu home.<\/p>\n MORE: Gwyneth Paltrow\u2019s huge $10m fail exposed<\/a><\/p>\n However, Cher now has an estimated net worth of $360 million\u2014with assets including her $85 million Malibu beach house. Jason Kirk\/Getty Images<\/p>\n MORE: \u2018F***\u2019: Charlize\u2019s lover rule amid move to Aus<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis house has been one of the greatest passions of my life,\u201d she said. \u201cI have enjoyed every moment of its creation and evolution, but now it\u2019s time to pass this magic on to others.\u201d<\/p>\n When the property was listed, images revealed an incredible glimpse inside the dwelling, which features a meditation room inside the primary suite, a climate-controlled wig room, a private gym, and a movie theatre.<\/p>\n Outside, the parcel is lined with dozens of palm trees to ensure complete privacy, while a dramatic gated courtyard provides an idyllic place to relax away from prying eyes.<\/p>\n But perhaps the most impressive element of the home is its proximity to the ocean, which ensures jaw-dropping views from every room.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery room has two different views of the ocean,\u201d Cher revealed when she put the home on the market. \u201cThis house wraps its arms around. you.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet even with all of those amenities \u2014 and more \u2014 the property struggled on the market, despite the $10 million price cut.<\/p>\n Having failed to find a buyer, Cher ultimately delisted the property in August 2024 \u2014 and records show that it is still registered to the trust she initially used to purchase it more than 30 years ago.<\/p>\n Cher\u2019s mountain retreat<\/p>\n The Malibu home is far from the only dwelling that Cher has owned over the years. Since the 1970s, the singer has picked up and sold multiple California homes, including properties in Bel Air and Beverly Hills \u2014 although her beach house has remained her primary residence.<\/p>\n In the 1970s and 1980s, however, she began to look further afield \u2014 specifically in Colorado and New York City.<\/p>\n Cher first purchased a property in Aspen, CO, in the 1970s, Architectural Digest previously reported \u2014 noting that she was forced to sell that home when she ran into financial difficulties.<\/p>\n However, by the 1980s, she was ready to return to the real estate market, purchasing an apartment in Manhattan\u2019s iconic Silk Building, before once again teaming up with Wilson on the decor. However, she owned it for just a few years before selling it to Russell Simmons for $1.6 million in 1990.<\/p>\n The singer and actress has owned multiple homes over the years, including two dwellings in Aspen, CO.Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images<\/p>\n MORE:Jonah Hill quit LA, vanished in small town<\/a><\/p>\n That same year, Cher happened upon what would end up becoming her longtime mountain retreat: an adobe-style Colorado home near Aspen, which she first visited while in the town for the wedding of her sister, Georganne. At the time, the singer decided to view several condos in the area \u2014 but it was the 8-acre estate that stole her heart.<\/p>\n \u201cI kept going back to it,\u201d she told Architectural Digest in 1991. \u201cIt just seemed like the right place.\u201d<\/p>\n So much so, that Cher couldn\u2019t wait to make it her own \u2014 closing on the house in October, then rushing to redecorate and furnish it by early December so that she could spend the holidays there with her family, surrounded by snow-capped mountains.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen she told me to do it by December, I said it couldn\u2019t be done,\u201d her longtime designer later said. \u201cShe said, \u2018Well, kick some a \u2014 and get it done.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Opening the home up to the design publication, Cher admitted that it was not the David Finholm-designed structure that had captured her attention when she first viewed the property, but rather the extraordinary location of the dwelling, which sits to the west of Aspen and boasts incredible panoramic mountain vistas.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery room in the house is like a picture with the windows like a big frame,\u201d she explained. \u201cWhen you look out and see the snow falling or the leaves turning golden \u2026 it\u2019s just so beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n It helped that the songstress had a number of friends who already owned properties in and around Aspen, and regularly spent time there, including the likes of Nicholson, Hawn, and Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s something easy about it. I have a lot of friends up there,\u201d she said of the lifestyle in Aspen. \u201cI\u2019ll go over to Kurt and Goldie\u2019s place or over to see Don and Melanie or Jack \u2014 these are people I\u2019ve known my whole adult life. If you want activity you can find it, but if you don\u2019t, you don\u2019t have to \u2014 usually I don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inside Cher\u2019s incredible life and real estate portfolio. 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