Cher has earned an Oscar, Emmy and Grammy award over the course of her six-decade profession, however her proudest accomplishment stays elevating her two sons, Chaz Bono and Elijah Blue Allman.

“I all the time, all the time wished to be a mom,” she informed Robin McGraw on Dr. Phil in 2004. “I’m happy with, on this lifetime, they each have gotten nice morals. They inform the reality, they root for the underdog, they’ve respect for folks. The issues that my mother made me assume had been a very powerful issues, my youngsters have them.”

The “If I Might Flip Again Time” singer revealed she suffered a number of miscarriages earlier than welcoming her first little one, Chaz Bono, with husband Sonny Bono on March 4, 1969. She and Sonny, who carried out collectively as Sonny & Cher, cut up in 1974 however had been nonetheless shut when he died from a snowboarding accident in 1998.

Simply days after Cher and Sonny’s divorce was finalized in 1975, she married Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. Although Cher filed for divorce 9 days after their union, the pair finally reconciled and welcomed their solely little one collectively, son Elijah Blue, on July 10, 1976. Three years later, Cher and Gregg went their separate methods, and he or she started elevating her two youngsters as a single mom.

Cher has lengthy been candid about how troublesome it was to steadiness her profession together with her household life, admitting she wished she may have supplied extra “stability” to Chaz and Elijah. “But it surely’s actually arduous in my job,” she stated on Dr. Phil. “It would not essentially combine effectively with having youngsters. It is like Kate Hepburn stated, ‘If you are going to do that job, haven’t got youngsters.’ However I wished them. My life would have been nothing with out them.”

Right here’s every part to find out about Cher’s two sons.

Chaz Bono, 54

Cher grew to become a first-time mother when she welcomed Chaz Bono with then-husband Sonny Bono on March 4, 1969. Following his delivery, she stated it was like having a “new greatest good friend. It was simply essentially the most enjoyable. It was like every single day is Christmas.”

Rising up, Chaz was extremely well-behaved, in keeping with his mother. “[He] by no means did a factor unsuitable. By no means, it was unbelievable. It was simply who [he] was,” the Burlesque actress stated on Dr. Phil, including that he joined his mother and father on the highway at simply 6 weeks previous.

Beginning at age 2, Chaz made frequent appearances alongside his mother and father on their Emmy-award-winning selection present, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, all through his childhood — which is probably the place he first received the performing bug. At age 13, Cher observed that Chaz was struggling in class, and signed him up for summer time performing courses. Regardless of some preliminary pushback, he was instantly hooked. “[His] complete life was modified. It was a change,” Cher informed McGraw in 2004.

Quickly after, Chaz was supplied a scholarship to LaGuardia Excessive Faculty, a performing arts faculty, in New York Metropolis. The chance gave Chaz area to find who he was with out his well-known mother and father. “It is made [him] shine and be this open particular person, and it is given [him his] personal self — not being in my shadow, not being in [his] dad’s shadow,” Cher stated.

Regardless of Chaz’s curiosity in pursuing performing, he finally set his dream apart. “My senior 12 months of highschool I received forged as a male character and for the primary time I actually excelled. However I informed myself, ‘This may by no means occur as an expert so I want to search out one other profession,’ ” Chaz — who was assigned feminine at delivery — informed PEOPLE in 2013, reflecting on life earlier than he transitioned in March 2009, following his fortieth birthday.

Chaz later opened up about popping out as a transgender man to Leisure Tonight: “I used to be turning 40 and I believed it’s now or by no means. I wish to nonetheless really feel vibrant and be capable of get pleasure from my life in a male physique and never wait till I’m an previous man.”

Chaz documented his transition within the 2011 documentary Turning into Chaz.

His mother, in the meantime, was his largest supporter. A supply informed PEOPLE that after screening his documentary at her home, Cher informed a good friend, “I like my son Chaz’s braveness for sharing his private journey. Most necessary to me is that he’s very blissful. That’s what I care about essentially the most. He has my love and help.”

Chaz finally made his manner again into performing after a confidence-boosting activate Dancing with the Stars in 2011. That have led him to guest-starring roles on Degrassi: The Subsequent Era and The Secret Lifetime of the American Teenager. “I’ve determined that hopefully it’s by no means too late to do what you wish to do,” he informed PEOPLE in 2013.

In 2015, he starred in a stage manufacturing of Proof, for which he drew inspiration from his relationship together with his late father. He has additionally landed recurring roles on The Daring and the Stunning and American Horror Story.

Chaz and his mom stay shut, stepping out collectively for events together with Cher’s hand and footprint ceremony in 2010 and the Ladies’s March in 2017. They’ve additionally made a degree to indicate up for one another’s performances. “She’s been actually supportive and is a giant fan,” Chaz beforehand informed PEOPLE. “She’s come to every part I’ve ever achieved.”

Elijah Blue Allman, 47

Cher and Gregg Allman welcomed son Elijah Blue Allman on July 10, 1976. By 1979, the Moonstruck star had cut up from Allman, who struggled with drug dependancy. “I stayed with him till I knew I couldn’t as a result of I didn’t need the youngsters to be round it,” Cher informed Parade in 2018, including that whereas he was “the sweetest man on this planet,” his drug use meant issues “simply weren’t figuring out.”

She went on to boost her youngsters as a single mother, together with her boyfriends performing as interim paternal figures for her sons. “I do not know if that is sufficient,” Cher stated on Dr. Phil, after noting that exes Val Kilmer, Joshua Donen and Gene Simmons had all stepped up as father figures. “His father was not there,” she stated of Elijah. “He by no means noticed his dad.” Elijah later mended his relationship together with his father earlier than Gregg’s loss of life in 2017.

“I’ve seen my dad much more within the final 12 months than I’ve in a very long time,” Elijah informed the Every day Mail in 2014. “That was one thing that was absent after I was rising up and it’s necessary to fix fences now in our relationship.” He and Cher have additionally gone by means of durations of estrangement as adults. He added that for all their difficulties, nonetheless, he is aware of they’ll all the time restore their relationship. “It’ll be mended as a result of it must be, it would simply take time,” Elijah stated on the time.

Cher has spoken out in regards to the sophisticated nature of their relationship through the years, telling McGraw, “He and I’ve such a weird relationship. We have had so many unusual moments. I do not actually perceive him. … One way or the other Elijah and I form of discuss by means of osmosis.”

She added that the mother-son pair “had our first combat” when Elijah was 9 months previous. She additionally praised his intelligence rising up, explaining, “His thoughts may be very expansive. He simply dances to his personal tune and would not actually care.”

After graduating from highschool, Elijah adopted in his household’s footsteps and pursued a profession in music, going by the stage title P. Exeter Blue and beginning the rock band Deadsy with a bunch of mates. Collectively, the group produced three albums and toured with Limp Bizkit.

In 2013, Elijah wed singer Marieangela “Angie” King, who’s professionally often called Queenie. They finally cut up in 2021.