Cher Spent a Surreal Evening with Jackie Kennedy When She Was 19 Years Old: 'She Reminded Me of My Mom'

Mar. 15, 2025

Cher in the 1960s (left); Jacqueline Kennedy in 1960 (right).Photo:Michael Ochs Archives/Getty; Bettmann

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty; Bettmann

Cheronce spent a magical evening withJacqueline Kennedywhen she was 19 years old, the music icon writes in her new memoir.

Bono and Cher’s agent accepted the invitation, and they were allowed just one rehearsal with their band before their performance.

Cher on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ on Nov. 18, 2024.Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty

Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty

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When the group returned to the home later that evening, they found themselves performing for just 20 guests. “We’d never played a house before and were accustomed to arenas, not long living rooms with low ceilings,” Cher, now 78, wrote.

They were not invited to the dinner, although Cher noted she was “far too nervous about meeting thewidow of JFKto eat, so I couldn’t have cared less.” Sonny and Cher were even ushered out the door after they finished their set, much to the disappointment of Kennedy, who wanted to talk with them over dessert.

Sonny and Cher returned to the party, where the men “adjourned to smoke cigars, and the women in the room stood up as one and walked out.” Cher followed the women to a “mammoth bedroom,” where she first had an odd encounter with an older woman who told her she had a “pointed head.”

Cher attends the Pre-GRAMMY Gala & GRAMMY Salute to Industry Icons Honoring Jon Platt at The Beverly Hilton on February 03, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.Kevin Mazur/Getty

Kevin Mazur/Getty

Kennedy “sat down next to me with such an elegant bearing that she reminded me ofmy mom,” Cher wrote. The “I Got You Babe” singer found herself “tongue-tied” and all she could ask was how Kennedy’s childrenCaroline KennedyandJohn F. Kennedy Jr.were doing two years aftertheir father’s assassination.

“They are very well, thank you,” Kennedy told Cher, she wrote. “‘I Got You Babe’ is one of our favorite songs, and the children love to sing along.”

Cher: The Memoir, Part One cover.HarperCollins

HarperCollins

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“She was so sweet and kind,” Cher wrote of Kennedy, who died in 1994 at 64. “When we went back into the dining room, Jackie sat us immediately to her left and was great at putting us at ease. Sonny gave her something for the children, two little Catholic saint medals, which as a woman of faith she appreciated. She told him that he looked ‘almost Shakespearean’ with his pageboy haircut, and from that moment on he was like putty in her hands. Well, I think he was putty before, but that only helped.”

Cher: The Memoir, Part Onewas released on Nov. 19. The second part is expected later this year.

source: people.com