The legendary Cher opens up about fame, failure and remaining fearless at age 80.

From an early age, Cher’s mother, Georgia Holt, taught her to “lead with her heart” and “do the right thing”—vital life lessons that still guide her today.

As the enduring music legend, entertainment icon and Oscar-winning actress celebrates her 80th birthday on May 20, she says that she has no intention of slowing down, either in her mega-career or adventurous life.

“The way I have lived my life comes from my mom, who instilled in me the importance of doing the right thing,” Cher explains, speaking during the recent 2026 National Conference for Women.

The conference, focused on leadership, advancement, networking and well-being, was attended by more than 10,000 people. During a time of widespread uncertainty and high workplace depletion, this was the perfect way to focus on women’s empowerment.

“My mother would say, ‘Help when you can help.’ She was very heartfelt, and that was such a major influence on me,” Cher says. “Her words got into my DNA.”

Cher’s career speaks for itself. She started out as a singer and ended up with chart-topping hits throughout her career, such as “I Got You Babe,” “The Beat Goes On,” “Gypsies,” “Tramps & Thieves,” “If I Could Turn Back Time,” “Believe,” and many more.

Her entertainment legacy continued with a celebrated film career that includes Silkwood, Mask, The Witches of Eastwick, Mermaids, Tea with Mussolini and Moonstruck—which earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1987. Basically, Cher has done it all.

She’s also added author to her résumé. Cher: Part One, was released in November 2024, and offers an intimate look at her life and career, with Cher: Part Two set for publication in November 2026.

Despite her legendary status, Cher resists the label “icon.”

“It feels ridiculous. Let me be clear, I’m a woman who works. I know I’m famous, but in my mind it’s about what I do,” she says. “When it comes to success, what kept me going during tough times was repeating to myself, ‘You’re always going to be Cher!’”

Orlando Family Magazine spoke to Cher about how she was raised to be resilient, the highs and lows of her career and how she managed to stay herself through it all.

You had a difficult childhood in which you were extremely poor, and spent time in an orphanage. But you describe your mother, Georgia, as strong-willed and even glamorous.
Yes, my mom had two children, and it’s hard bringing up my sister [Georganne LaPiere], but she did a great job. She would make certain things really special, so you wouldn’t notice what was missing—like taking us to FAO Schwartz. [Her mom passed away at age 96 in December 2022].

People have called you the master of re-creation, but you don’t agree.
It doesn’t really apply, because I didn’t recreate myself. I’ve been the same person since I was 6.

It sounds like your mom’s advice became your inner voice.
True. Except she told me I should marry a rich man. I wanted to make a movie, and I didn’t have any money, and she said if I married a rich man it would solve my problems. And of course I said, ‘Well, I am a rich man.’ [Laughs] Sometimes it’s like her voice became my voice. Maybe I just improved on it. But I took a lot of things that she was and bumped them up a little bit on a crazy level. Absolutely. Anyone who knows me will tell you in the best way.

How did you contend with those times when you didn’t have a job, and you were feeling stressed?
My manager was my best friend for a million years, and one day he came to me and told me that his self-esteem was tied up with my success, and he didn’t believe in me anymore. I couldn’t even fathom it. I just lost my mind for a second.

After hearing what your manager said to you, what forced you to keep going and not throw in the towel?
I don’t fold towels very well. I don’t know anything about quitting because what would I do? Often, I found myself without money and had to start from the beginning. I’ve said this many times that I feel like a bumper car if I hit the wall. Instead of going back and back and back, I just pull back and go somewhere else.

Even as a child, you sang into a hairbrush and dreamed of being a star. And your classmates say they believed you would be a huge star one day. Did you ever have a plan B?
No, I didn’t even have a plan A. It wasn’t a plan. It was just like a little fleeting thing every once in a while, and I made my mom laugh, and we sang. I actually thought everyone sang, because in my house, everyone sang, and I was really funny. I used to put on shows for my mom. I’ve always been me.

What would you say are some early experiences that helped you remain so boldly who you are?
I got a lot of my way of being from my mom, except I was able to think higher, but also, I met Sonny [Bono], so that was, for the most part, the luck that happened.

Sometimes when women hit middle age, they don’t care about other people’s opinions. But you’ve always been that way.
If I cared, I wouldn’t have dressed the way I did. I wouldn’t talk the way I do. I would have planned it better.

Especially because you’ve worked in this industry for so long, where it seems that people are acutely aware and care so much about every aspect of their image.
I care about what people think about me, but not enough to change what I think about me. I mean, like, if I weigh it, it just doesn’t enter my mind to change what I’m doing.

It’s surprising but humanizing to hear this.
Confidence is not my strong suit, but I can do things, you know, even without it. Look, I know so many people that don’t; so many artists that don’t have confidence. I must have some sort of confidence, but I don’t know; it’s not the normal kind. Because every time I do a job, I think, ‘Oh, God, I’m not going to be able to do this.’

So how did you get through it?
I know if I just go the one more step, or two more steps, then I’m doing it, and it’s fabulous. Or I’m doing it, and I hate it, but I’m still doing it. We all feel how we feel about things, and we have a choice. Or we are faced with a problem, and sometimes you’ve got a lot in your tool chest, and sometimes you’ve got nothing, not even a nail.

You started with music and then, in the 1980s, launched your acting career and soon after won an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globes. Some call that re-invention, but you describe it differently.
Well, I call it survival, because if you can’t get a job doing what you yearn to do, then you’ve got to move on to something else. [The great director] Francis Coppola told me if I wanted to get a job as an actress, I should move to New York. I didn’t know exactly how to do it, but I knew I would figure it out.

You’ve said the characters you play have all been you, like in Moonstruck, where you played a woman who is grounded, opinionated, funny and fully herself. How did you master this?
I didn’t really have an approach. I was too stupid to know that you had to have that. I just read it. I just learned the script. I don’t have any kind of technique. It’s like, if someone tells me something and I listen, if they tell me something, I think, OK, they probably have something going on in their mind that I’m not seeing. So, I will try it their way, and then if it doesn’t work, I’ll do it my way.

You’ve had so many triumphs, but you’ve also faced some serious setbacks. Talk about one setback and how you came back from it?
When I left Sonny, we were doing the Sonny and Cher Show, I had no idea that I didn’t have any power, and everyone was really terrified. What was I going to do? What’s she going to do? Will she leave the show? You know? The truth is, we were still having a blast because the show was where we got along best.

I met [film producer and music executive] David Geffen, and he asked me about my contract, and I told him I didn’t even know where to find it. Then he came back to me a couple of days later, and he said, ‘You have a slave contract. You don’t own anything. You’re signed to a company called Cher Enterprises, but someone owns 90%, and his lawyer owns the other 10.’ I kept thinking we were partners, so I left. But I didn’t take any money with me because [Sonny] had it all.

What did you learn from that experience?
You don’t give up. For me, it’s like failure is just success disguised. You know, it’s like you just have to keep doing what you do, and it didn’t make any difference. I could have failed all those times. It was horrible, but it was magic when I was successful.

Where does that resilience come from?
I honestly don’t know how to do anything else. It’s not like a big deal for me, because truthfully, you’re putting one foot in front of the other, and you just keep doing it. Sometimes you have to walk back five steps, but you just go forward, or you crawl forward, but you just keep going.