Honest Quotes About Motherhood From Cher

Cher knows what it’s like to parent in the spotlight.

The pop icon has two sons: Chaz Bono with Sonny Bono, and Elijah Blue Allman with Gregg Allman. Since becoming a mother in 1969, she’s shared glimpses into her child-rearing experience.

In honor of her birthday, we’ve rounded up 12 quotes about motherhood from Cher.

“It was really hard for me because I had lost four children before Chas, and I had to lay in bed for the first three months and then I had to just stay in the house. So I learned how to play pool, and learned French, so it wasn’t a total loss, and then after I became a mother I thought what have I been doing all this time? What did I do before I did this?”

“It’s like everything I do, I never have an ounce of confidence, I just do things. And I was really terrified with Chas because I just thought, ‘How am I going to do this?’ But Sonny had so much confidence and I kind of followed him … I kind of noticed how free Sonny was. He would have Chas under one arm, making sauce, telling me to do something. He was so easygoing, so I kind of modeled myself after him.”

“It’s a hard thing to be the child of someone who’s famous, and I think they did really, really well. They had so much patience. And I think I could have done better. But, I tried to instill in them a good moral compass, and I’m proud of them for that, because they have it.”

“Look, I didn’t handle [Chaz’s coming out] all that well in the beginning. It took me a minute. Because you’ve been with a child for 40 years, and then all of a sudden … but you know what? Chaz was so happy! … As a matter of fact, I was just telling this to my friend last night. It’s like, if I woke up in the morning, and I wasn’t me anymore and I didn’t feel like me and I couldn’t be me, I would just be beyond grief stricken. And that’s what I have to tell a mother or father: You are who you are, but how would you feel if you were someone else and you couldn’t be that someone else? That’s how I had to get it. And, you know, I didn’t do it all that well in the beginning. So, I can’t take too many kudos, but now, it’s fabulous.”

“When they were young, I could just drag them with me. So we would go all over and they liked it, I mean, it was their life, they didn’t know that it wasn’t fun. And for them, it was. There were around a whole bunch of people who loved them to death, dancers and singers who would take them everywhere so that they had a good time. But then there were times after that, it’s just not that much fun.”

“I worry about both of them. You know, like my mom looks at my sister and I and still calls us ‘the kids,’ which I think is completely ridiculous, but I think that that’s the way I feel about my children. Your children are just your children. They’re little.”

“I would’ve had more stability, but it’s really hard in my job. It doesn’t necessarily mix well with having children. It’s like Kate Hepburn said, ‘If you’re going to do this job, don’t have kids.’ But I wanted them. My life would have been nothing without them.”

“I’m a cookie decorating mom. I don’t bake them, I decorate them.”

“That happened, but I’m not so sure that parents and their kids don’t all go through that. I love my mother like crazy, but I had a couple of times with her. Elijah lives with me now, so…”

“I’m proud of, in this lifetime, they both have got great morals. They tell the truth, they root for the underdog, they have respect for people. The things that my mom made me think were the most important things, my children have them.”

“I did the best I could do, and yet it was definitely lacking. My relationship with my kids is great right now. Let’s freeze this moment because God knows what’ll happen tomorrow.”

“I really like being a mother. I’ve got children that are absolutely the best thing in the world.”