Cher recalls 'special arrangement' with David Geffen—and gay roommate

Cher opened up about living with a gay roommate after leaving her parents' home, being 16 years old when she started dating Sonny Bono, and having a "special arrangement" with then-closeted David Geffen — who's made headlines recently for divorcing his husband of two years.

Check out our comprehensive breakdown of standout quotes from Cher during her latest interview on the Armchair Expert podcast, cohosted by Dax Shepard and Monica Padman, below.

Cher lived with a gay roommate after leaving her parents' house.

Cher recalled living with a "gay" woman after leaving her parents' home.

"She worked for my mom for a while. When my mom knew I was going, they said, 'You have to live with her,' like she was somebody that was going to really keep a rein on me," the popstar explained. "We moved into this apartment, and when my parents left, we smoked a cigarette in every room. We just put in ashtrays everywhere and smoked a cigarette in every room."

At first, Sonny Bono wasn't into Cher — he was into her roommate.

Shepard asked, "So you're living with her, and then you meet Sonny."

"Yeah, but he likes my girl friend," Cher noted, "And my girl friend is gay."

Eventually, Cher's roommate left their apartment, prompting the singer/actress to find another place to live. The solution? Well, Sonny Bono!

Cher got kicked out of her pervious place and moved in with Sonny.

Upon getting kicked out from her previous apartment, Cher "went next door to tell" Sonny Bono about her situation, adding: "I was very forlorn, and we were best friends by that time. Well, not best, but we were good."

According to Cher, Sonny invited her to move in with him but straight-up told the pop star that he didn't find her attractive. "He said, 'Will you come in with me?' I was like, 'Okay, good.' And then he said, 'I have single beds. To tell you the truth, I don't find you particularly attractive.'"

For context, Sonny was 27 at the time. The singer was 16 years old, but told Sonny that she was 18 all along.

Overall, Cher and Sonny were "friends" before engaging in anything romantic or sexual, she recalled. "I would do stupid things with him [that] the girls his age would never do. I was happy to just do nothing."

Everyone started to notice that Sonny was screwing over Cher.

After years of already being married to Sonny Bono and allowing him to run the entire business side of her career, Cher met David Geffen — who, at the time, was a closeted gay man on his way to becoming the music industry mogul he's known to be.

Shepard remarked, "You're touring like crazy when you're not doing the show. The marriage is not great. And, at some point, you become friends with David Geffen; he enters your life."

Cher recalled being asked by the guitarist in her band, "Why do you live this way?" in relation to her marriage and business partnership with Sonny.

Cher explained David Geffen's role in helping her Sonny Bono.

Cher recalled meeting Geffen "at Lou Adler's Christmas party."

Shepard noted — from reading Cher: The Memoir — that it "isn't until Geffen looks at this contract and says to you, 'Do you realize 100 percent of this money goes to a company called Cher Inc., that is owned 95 percent by Sonny and 5 percent by his lawyer?'"

"It was like [I was] born yesterday," Cher said. "They would bring me a bunch of Cher Enterprises contracts to sign, and it was always when I was getting ready to go on stage."

Geffen eventually chimed in on what was going on between Cher and Sonny. "[Geffen] said, you got to get out of this," the singer recalled. "So I went to Sonny and I said, 'I'll stay if we're partners.' And he said, 'No.'"

The pop star added that Bono "hated" Geffen. "I mean, he hated him with a vengeance," she underscored. "None of the others," just Geffen.

Cher and David Geffen had a 'special arrangement.'

Cher dated Geffen in the 1970s — which, in hindsight, was a weird pairing given that Geffen was already gay (but closeted). When asked about their relationship, though, Cher was protective of Geffen.

It was "a different thing; he never had been in love with anybody," Cher explained. "I was the first person that he had real feelings for, so we had a special arrangement."

Cher insisted that she would've never been able to get out of that situation with Bono had it not been for Geffen. The pop star also noted that she's still friends with Geffen to this day.

Armchair Expert is available on all podcast streaming platforms. Cher: Part One: The Memoir is available everywhere books are sold. Cher: Part Two is scheduled to drop on November 17, 2026 and can be preordered now.