When you want to get out of your extremely public marriage, you get advice from someone who’s been there — which is why Cher sought out help from Lucille Ball when she decided to end her marriage to Sonny Bono.
In her newly released self-titled memoir, Cher tells a story of turning to Ball for guidance when she finally made up her mind to get out of her marriage.
The decision came after Cher discovered that she was essentially in “indentured servitude” to her husband, unable to access her money or even write a check without Bono’s consent due to a contract he arranged for Cher Enterprises.
“I called Lucille Ball to ask for her advice,” Cher writes. “I told her, ‘Lucy, I want to leave Sonny and you’re the only one I know that’s ever been in this same situation. What should I do?’ Lucy and her husband had also become famous working together as stars on TV. And he was a huge womanizer too. Then Lucy had left him.”
Cher is, of course, referring to the partnership between Ball and Desi Arnaz, who began the television show I Love Lucy as a bid to share their marriage and spend more time together. The show became a massive hit, but eventually, Ball couldn’t abide Arnaz’s infidelities. I Love Lucy ended its run in 1957 and Ball finalized her divorce in 1960.
Similarly, Cher had risen to fame alongside her husband, Sonny Bono, on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour on CBS. But while their show was still a huge success, their marriage was not. Cher also remembers Ball giving her very frank advice. “She told me, ‘F— him, you’re the one with the talent.'”
Cher eventually secured the same divorce lawyer that Ball had used, Mickey Rudin. Ball had bought out Arnaz’s stake in their production company, Desilu, in her divorce, but Cher didn’t secure quite as favorable terms, owing Bono for the remaining two years on her “Cher Enterprises” contract.
