Cher implies she had abortion days after wedding to Gregg Allman in new memoir
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Cher has implied she underwent an abortion just days after her wedding to her second husband, Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers.
The 78-year-old pop star pulled the curtain back on her love life in the newly-released first volume of her two-part autobiography, Cher: The Memoir.
Gregg and Cher were husband and wife from 1975 to 1979, in a relationship that was repeatedly buffeted by his addiction to heroin.
She impulsively married him after getting pregnant, exchanging vows with him in a Las Vegas ceremony 'arranged within a few days' of her learning she was expecting.
However, the morning after the wedding, Cher discovered white powder among Gregg's personal belongings - even though she had previously helped him get sober.
Her husband's renewed drug use, combined with her own misgivings about how her pregnancy would affect her career, led her to conclude that 'I had to make a choice, and I knew what it was,' she wrote without using the word 'abortion' outright.
Cher has implied she underwent an abortion just days after her wedding to her second husband, Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers; the pair are pictured in 1976
Just one day after their wedding, Cher and Gregg had to be in different cities for work, leaving her faced with a 'depressing' sense of foreboding about their relationship. 'I'm not sure I even saw a future with him at that point,' she wrote.
That morning, she found 'a plastic bag full of white powder' in the Dopp kit he had left behind, intensifying her qualms.
'I think when something like that happens, it tests the strength of a relationship and ours was not strong,' observed Cher, whose father was also a heroin addict.
She then visited her doctor, who had 'become friends' with her after treating her through two miscarriages as well as the birth of her first child Chaz Bono, whom Cher had welcomed with her first husband Sonny Bono.
'While examining me, he discovered I Had some ovarian cysts and told me: "I can go ahead and take care of these." I'd known him for so long, if they'd been dangerous he would have said: "You have cysts. I have to take them out." I pretty much knew what he meant when he offered it as a choice,' Cher recalled.
'I was thinking about how I'd had to be on bed rest when I was pregnant with Chas and couldn't go in a car for four months except for checkup appointments. I needed to be at work on Monday. I needed to be singing and dancing,' she continued.
'I had a child, mother and sister to take care of. I knew I had to make a choice, and I knew what it was,' Cher explained.
'It made it harder that I didn't have Gregory to talk to about it, but I made my decision and I was so grateful to my doctor's compassion for giving me one.'
The 78-year-old pop star pulled the curtain back on her love life in the newly-released first volume of her two-part autobiography, Cher: The Memoir
They ultimately welcomed their son Elijah Blue Allman in July 1976 - one year and two months after Cher and Gregg's wedding; the trio are pictured when Elijah was 10 weeks old
In the end, his personal demons grew too formidable for the marriage to sustain, and they split in 1978 after he suffered 'a paranoid breakdown'; Cher is pictured that year
Cher noted: 'I am stubborn and hardheaded, which can be a good quality, because I won't give up - but that can work against me, too'; pictured last month
Days later, Cher received word that Gregg had filed for divorce, and shortly thereafter - just nine days after the Las Vegas wedding - she filed for divorce as well.
Gregg quickly reversed course and attempted to get Cher back, eventually succeeding when he went to rehab and underwent therapy.
However their relationship frayed under the strain of Gregg's addiction, in spite of his multiple attempts to give up heroin.
'I'm just so tired of doing this, Gregory. I'm so tired of going to rehab with you,' Cher told him at one stage. 'But I keep going,' he replied.
In the end, his personal demons grew too formidable for the marriage to sustain, and they split in 1978 after he suffered 'a paranoid breakdown and insisted he saw men with guns in the backyard,' Cher wrote.
'This is the last straw, I thought. Whatever he is now, it's not safe for kids. It only happened once, but I couldn't risk it.'
She reflected: 'Looking back, I can see that I was a little crazy with Gregory. I kept doing the same thing and hoping for different results, and therein insanity lies.'
Cher noted: 'I am stubborn and hardheaded, which can be a good quality, because I won't give up - but that can work against me, too. It got me where I am today, but sometimes you gotta know when to quit.'
Gregg, who ultimately married a total of seven times, died in 2017 at the age of 69 after a battle with liver cancer. Cher attended his funeral.
