Cher's Dating History: From Sonny Bono to Alexander Edwards

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Do you believe in life after love? Cher certainly does.

In the '60s and '70s, the "Believe" singer had two very high-profile marriages with fellow musicians that both ended in divorce — she was married to her singing partner Sonny Bono from 1964 to 1975 and singer Gregg Allman from 1975 to 1979. However, she never stopped being open to love and speaking freely about her relationships.

Over the years, she has been linked to a few famous men, including Gene Simmons and Tom Cruise. Most recently, she made headlines for her relationship with music executive Alexander Edwards, who is 40 years her junior.

During a 2013 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Cher was asked who her best lovers were. "Well, a lot of them kind of came in first," Cher responded. "I had just the greatest lovers ever." She added that it wasn't "a long list. It's just a good list."

In November 2022, the Burlesque star opened up about her relationship with Edwards on Twitter, writing of her boyfriend, "He's Kind, Smart, Hilarious… & We [kiss emoji] Like Teenagers."

Keep reading for a look back at Cher's dating history.

Warren Beatty

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When Cher was just 16 years old, she briefly dated Warren Beatty, though she doesn't consider their romance a real relationship.

In a 2018 interview with Elle, Cher revealed that she first met Beatty, who was 25 at the time, when he nearly hit her with his car.

"Are you nuts?" she recalled saying before she realized who was driving the car. "Then I looked at his face, and I thought, My God, it's Warren Beatty."

She added of their fling, "But you can't call it a relationship ... It was very Warren."

Sonny Bono

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Shortly after her fling with Beatty, Cher met Bono at a party in 1962 — although it was not love at first sight. "I was with my girlfriend, who was really beautiful. He liked her so he didn't really say anything to me. He was like, 'Oh yeah, kid,' " Cher said during her SiriusXM special The Cher Show: Making the Musical.

She explained that she had just dropped out of high school and moved to Los Angeles with dreams of making it in the entertainment industry. The day after the party, she found out that Bono (who was 28 at the time) was moving in next door to her apartment, which was convenient as she was about to be kicked out.

"I just went up and said, 'Hi, listen, I'm going to have to move out of our apartment cause I'm sick and I don't have any money and I don't want to go home and I just want to get out and do things and I don't know what I'm going to do but I don't have any place to live and blah blah blah,' " Cher said. "And [Bono] said, 'Can you cook and clean?' "

She lied about being able to cook, and Bono replied, " 'Okay. I have twin beds. You can stay in my house. I don't find you particularly attractive.' And I said, 'Okay.' And I didn't cook, but he did."

Eventually, their relationship went from roommates to lovers, and they tied the knot in 1964. Bono was already working in the music industry under record producer Phil Spector, and after introducing her to his boss, Cher began performing as a backup singer for other acts. By 1965, they began performing together as Sonny & Cher. It wasn't long before they found massive success and became a Hollywood "It" couple. Their variety show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, premiered in 1971.

In 1969, Cher and Bono welcomed their only child together, Chaz Bono.

Off the stage, their relationship began to crumble, with Cher later telling Parade in 2010 that Bono had become controlling. "He didn't want me to grow up or have any freedom," she said. "I wasn't allowed to do anything except work. We worked more than we lived." The couple also struggled with infidelity.

"Stardom made Sonny a huge womanizer," she told the outlet. "One woman, or even five, was not enough for him. I found all this out afterward. I asked him, 'How did you manage the logistics?' I was trusting and faithful with him. The truth is, I'm not so sure we should've ever been husband and wife."

Cher filed for divorce in 1974, citing "involuntary servitude." After contentious proceedings in court, where the former couple disagreed over custody of their child and how best to split their shared earnings, their divorce was finalized in 1975.

Despite their issues, Cher and Bono were able to get back on good terms, and they remained close until Bono's death in 1998. The "If I Could Turn Back Time" singer even delivered a tearful speech at his funeral, referring to him as someone she will never forget, per The Washington Post.

In a 2018 interview with the Daily Mail discussing all of her past relationships, Cher said of the late singer, "​​We had a weird relationship. I don't expect anybody to understand it."

David Geffen

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Cher dated entertainment executive David Geffen, who later came out as gay, shortly after she separated from Bono.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Geffen helped Cher remove herself from her business ties to Bono during their separation. Geffen and Cher attended the 1974 Grammys together and dated for two years.

"I was the first person to share his bed and to share his life," Cher said in The Operator, a biography of Geffen by Thomas R. King. "People don't believe that, or they don't want to believe it, or they don't understand how it could be. But we were really crazy about each other."

Speaking to Extra in 2014, Cher said that she and Geffen talked about marriage, but she wasn't interested. "I just had been married! I was just so frightened of it," she said.

She added, "At that point in his life, I was the right person for him."

Gregg Allman

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When Cher met Allman Brothers singer Gregg Allman, her hesitation to get married again went out the door. The couple wed in 1975, only a few days after her divorce from Bono was finalized. Nine days later, however, Cher filed to end her marriage with Allman. The pair were able to reconcile, and they remained married until 1979.

During their marriage, Cher and Allman welcomed a child, Elijah Blue Allman, in 1976. They also collaborated musically and released the duet album Two the Hard Way in 1977.

In her 2018 interview with the Daily Mail, Cher explained that Allman's substance abuse issues hurt their relationship.

"It was really intense, but it's hard to have a marriage with someone who's doing drugs," she said. "Drugs and I were just never meant to be together. I thought it was stupid and still do. I saw too many people where it ruined their lives. It ruined Gregory's life."

According to Entertainment Weekly, Allman once said of their marriage, "There was no future for us because she has that constant paranoia of (my) going back to alcohol."

Allman died following complications from liver cancer in 2017.

Gene Simmons

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Following her split from Allman, Cher began dating another musician: KISS singer Gene Simmons, whom she was with for two years.

In 1979, Cher and Simmons opened up about their relationship in an interview with PEOPLE.

While Cher said it was "the best relationship I've ever had with a human being," she revealed that they weren't totally monogamous. "I'm going through a very liberated phase right now," Cher said. "I think I have a very masculine attitude to dating … Gene might spend time with another woman and stay the night, but he wants her to leave in the morning so he can get on with his day." The singer noted, however, that she only saw other men "for companionship. Gene is the only one I'm crazy about. All my relationships are serious. I don't screw around."

As for Simmons, he told PEOPLE, "I'm crazy about Cher, nuts about her. She's my first love. Cher's an untainted soul who has never done anything bad to anybody."

Despite their passionate feelings for each other, Simmons ended up leaving Cher for another iconic performer: Diana Ross. In an interview on Radio Andy in 2017, the rocker revealed that Cher was the one who inadvertently set them up.

After telling his then-girlfriend that he had no clue what to buy her for Christmas, Cher said, "My best friend Diana is there, why don't you have her take you shopping." He went on to share that there are no hard feelings today, and he still stays in touch with both of the singers. "I praise both women for being the amazing women they are ... Cher is just beyond glamorous," he said.

Val Kilmer

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In the early '80s, Cher dated Top Gun star Val Kilmer, and the two are still close friends to this day.

In 2021, Cher discussed her relationship — and lasting friendship — with Kilmer for his PEOPLE cover story. She shared that they met at a birthday party and that their relationship was platonic at first. "We became friends because we laughed at the same things constantly. He would sleep over and it was just a friendship [at first]," she said, adding that the actor "was so good with my kids."

"We had unbelievable times and then put up with some times when they weren't [that way] because we were both Alpha males. We were both individuals and neither of us was going to give up on that," Cher explained.

Ultimately, they were better off as friends, ending their romantic relationship around 1984. They have remained a constant in each other's lives over the years, and Cher was even by Kilmer's side when he was diagnosed with throat cancer. "He was at my house a lot of the time he was sick. He was brave the whole time. I saw how sick he was," she told PEOPLE. "He's a true artist and Renaissance man. He was sick and it didn't stop him."

"He's like nobody I've ever known," she concluded. "He is exasperating and hysterical. Thrilling and funny, and doesn't do what anyone else does." Over four decades later, she says, "I don't know how we stayed friends, we just did. We didn't try. We just were."

Josh Donen

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By 1985, Cher had moved on with movie producer Josh Donen, though she was tight-lipped about the details of their brief romance. That year Cher was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, and the profile mentioned that she was living with Donen in Malibu. In 1987, Cher commented on their split to The Washington Post.

She called her time with Donen "my most serious relationship since being married," and added, "I still really love Joshua and I see him all the time. I just didn't want to be with him anymore as a girlfriend."

Tom Cruise

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Cher dated another Top Gun actor in the 1980s, none other than Tom Cruise. She first met the then-up-and-coming actor at Madonna and Sean Penn's 1985 wedding, but they reconnected at The White House.

"Then a bunch of people who were dyslexic were invited to the White House, and Tom and I are both dyslexic," Cher told the Daily Mail. "We didn't go out till way later, but there definitely was a connection there."

When Cher appeared on Watch What Happens Live in 2013 and host Andy Cohen asked for her list of best lovers, she said that Cruise "was in the Top 5."

In 2008, Cher told Entertainment Tonight, via HuffPost, that they stopped dating because of their conflicting schedules.

She explained, "It was a long, long time ago and neither one of us ever talked about it and I don't know why. When we were together he was such a private person. He always has been until lately … Now it's hard for me to look at this person and this press. How many times can I watch him jumping up and down on Oprah's couch?"

Rob Camilletti

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In 1986, Cher met Rob Camilletti, a baker, who became known as "Bagel Boy" due to his occupation and young age. When they got together, he was 22 and she was 40.

"He was making bagels," she told The Washington Post in 1987. "I saw him and I said, 'God that guy is so beautiful. Look at his eyes.' I thought if he was an actor, if he was talented at all, having those eyes would be really great."

She said they met up again three months later and began dating. "I didn't expect that we would be boyfriend and girlfriend at all," she told the outlet.

Camilletti accompanied his famous girlfriend to the 1988 Oscars, where she won the statue for Best Actress for her role in Moonstruck. The couple eventually split in 1989 due to the media attention surrounding their relationship.

When asked who the love of her life was during a 2020 interview with The Guardian, Cher answered, "Well, I think Robert [Camilletti] and Gregory Allman." She added, "Robert was completely different. He was like a rock." The Oscar-winner told Parade in 2010 that she and Camilletti, who had become a pilot, were still friends.

Richie Sambora

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Cher and Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora worked together before they dated. The musician was one of the producers of her 1987 album Cher.

While the two were very private about their relationship, Sambora did speak about their split in 1992. "Basically, what happened was both of us [were] so busy, me being in Bon Jovi … and Cher doing her movies, and doing her tours, and her stuff … we found it hard to come together," Sambora said during an appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show. "We still have fun together. We still always have a good relationship, although it didn't work out in that particular aspect."

In 2013, Sambora and Cher exchanged kind words on Twitter. "Saw Ritchie & I doing' Heart of Stone' [on] YouTube. He is [the] Sweetest, Most Adorable & Underrated Singers Ever! Wish Jon Let him Sing More on Stage," Cher wrote. Sambora responded, "Hey girl it's Richie... Thanks for the wonderful compliment. We had a lotta fun didn't we? It's been [too] long. I got the same number.."

Ron Zimmerman

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Cher dated screenwriter Ron Zimmerman in 2010. She was more open about this relationship, telling Parade that year that they first got to know each other by chatting on Facebook after a mutual friend introduced them. "Then we talked on the phone. I said, 'Why don't you come over and we'll meet? If I don't like you or you don't like me, you can just go home.' And that's how we met."

She continued, "Ron is short, a bit scraggly, like an absentminded professor. He's the funniest person I have ever met, and the most eccentric — so bizarre and kind and very special."

Not much is known about the couple's breakup, however.

Alexander Edwards

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Cher is currently dating music executive Alexander "AE" Edward, who is 40 years younger than her. The two began dating in the fall of 2022 after meeting at Paris Fashion Week.

"On paper, it's kind of ridiculous," Cher said on The Kelly Clarkson Show. "But in real life, we get along great. He's fabulous. And I don't give men qualities that they don't deserve."

Cher has also defended their age gap. "LOVE DOESN'T KNOW MATH, IT SEES ❤️ ❤️," she wrote in a since-deleted tweet in November 2022. She added that her family members had met Edwards and said that he treats her like a "queen."

On Christmas Day in 2022, Cher posted a photo of the diamond ring Edwards gifted her and said she wished she could show it to her late mother, Georgia Holt, who died earlier that month.

"Woke up Min ago,& 1st thing …B4 I Opened my eyes, I Thought…I Need 2 Run To Moms & Show Her my ring… 'she Loves Diamonds.' Before I realized it..I Had Little Tear, But Im sure this is natural [sic]," Cher tweeted.

Cher and Edwards made their red carpet debut at Versace's Los Angeles fashion show on March 9, 2023. Before the show, the couple were seen cuddling and sharing a kiss on the red carpet.

Cher is not the first famous woman Edwards has dated. He welcomed a child, Slash Electric Alexander Edwards, with ex Amber Rose in 2019.