Cher Talks About Chaz's Sex Change, Calls Him A Lesbian (VIDEO)

Cher sat down with David Letterman Thursday night and talked about her daughter-turned-son, Chaz, who completed gender reassignment surgery earlier this year.

"The day that we talked about it, really talked about it seriously, I said, 'If you have to do this you just have to do it,'" she said. "I wasn't always able to be quite as calm through the process, but that day I was so calm, and just thought, 'This is what has to happen.'"

Cher also said she considers Chaz a lesbian, even though he has described his relationship with his girlfriend as heterosexual.

"She was a lesbian - she still is - but it's not the same now," Cher said. "She has a beautiful girlfriend. But it's not the same thing as being a homosexual, you feel as if you're in the wrong body."

Cher used female pronouns throughout the interview and recently admitted that she still sometimes slips up and calls Chaz a girl.

Read a longer transcript at Radar.

WATCH:

Comments

[Gina Kohman]

10:13 PM on 11/29/2010

Right...'slipped up' with the pronouns...just like my mother has not
reliably been able to recall my new [7-years now] 'nickname' -
Gina, versus Mary Jean, for my STILL and always to be legal name Mary Regina.

Seems she took my deciding to have a nick I liked as a personal affront...
and the skip-ups are to remind me of it...BUT, I love her still,
because she cannot 'do' any better... :(

Mothers who are on the narcissistic side of personalities are notorius
for 'slip-ups' ...

I guess Chaz knows that from all of the required pre-surgery therapy?

Go Boy, Go! Congrats on finding your real self, Chaz!

I cannot even imagine having to go through anything like this with my own mother,
let alone a famous one :(

My marriages to other narcissists, and the subsequent divorces,
to save my own soul, have been enough fodder for her perpetual disdain....
but, narcissists ALWAYS have something to hang on you,
and her, and him, and them...NEVER on their own self... too hard on them :(

Cher...if you're reading this, get some therapy,
if you keep insisting Chaz is a lesbian...

Chaz IS a male.

Nature - and HIS choices, both trump your thoughts and wishes...
and that is not what has to be...it's what is.

[Quasi-Stellar Object]

11:27 AM on 11/21/2010

If Transgender individuals are, as they say, born in the wrong body it only serves to reason they ALREADY ARE the opposite sex REGARDLESS of the body they have. A fake body will do nothing to make that more or less "real". It only serves to ameliorate the bigotry of a society that demands conformity: that biological sex matches one's gender.

Who do you think invented the Transgender Industrial Complex in the first place? Bigoted heterosexual doctors who believe Transgender is "wrong", a "condition" that must be "corrected". Has it ever occurred to you to ask why Transgender was at all perceived, examined and eventually marketed as an "illness" that needs to be "cured" in the first place? Talk about blaming the victim. Unlike you I do not see anything about Transgender people that must be changed.

As I've stated before: what did people do before surgery was invented and touted as an option? They lived as themselves in the bodies they had. People have lived secretly as the opposite gender throughout history. Why is it not possible to do that now but openly?

The "white supremacist's insistence that African-Americans can never be as evolved as Caucasians" is NOT AT ALL an apt analogy.

If a person felt they were born the "wrong" race would anyone (in their right mind) argue that a bigoted society had NOTHING to do with it?

Show me "Chaz" Bono and I'll show you Michael Jackson.

[Quasi-Stellar Object]

05:21 PM on 11/19/2010

Eric Cartman.

[MbBrightside]

11:57 AM on 11/17/2010

And once again, David Letterman relentlessly pries into celebrities' personal lives uninvited. Cher handled his questions with grace and integrity while he continues to be his usual classless, nosy self, not even caring that he's making other people, guests on his show, visibly uncomfortable. He needs to realize that he is not Larry King- the only reason anybody goes on late night shows is to promote their product, not to talk about difficult, personal subjects.

[Quasi-Stellar Object]

08:29 AM on 11/17/2010

Reminds me of that old Twilight Zone episode where a woman is forced to undergo surgery to make her beautiful...or live in a camp with the rest of the "ugly" people. The doctors and nurses in the episode were so very sympathetic. Or were they?

What would a society look like where the concepts of "man" and "woman" were not culturally confined to biology? I mean...is there something WRONG about a man in a woman's body that we should all universally abhor?

Why does the heterosexually dominated medical and psychiatric establishment never question this one monolith? After all, they created this whole "final solution".

I'm not at all arguing gender is learned. Differences in brain structure, brain chemicals, hormones, body mass all result in biologically determined physical and mental differences between males and females. However, are we all so insecure we cannot abide a female who is born a "man" without compelling her conformity with surgery? Seriously. A flaccid prosthetic phallus and a lifetime of hormone injections will make Chaz no more of a man than an appendectomy. But nevermind. Instead of fixing a bigoted society let's just cut up those who don't fit in.

Instead of focusing on making the individual conform I'm more interested in WHY said individual is coerced into fitting in. It's the surgery and motivations behind this whole Transgender Industrial Complex that I find suspicious.

What is at stake? What, or who, precisely is it that is so threatened?

[Exene]

11:34 AM on 11/17/2010

You raise interesting points. I consider myself an open minded person, and in principle I am 100% supportive of transgendered people, but I will confess I really cannot wrap my brain around it. I guess it's because I was fortunate enough to be born in the "right" body. In years (centuries) past, people lived their lives as the opposite sex without surgery. One hears about "female" civil war veterans who served as men and lived out their lives as men. Is surgery really necessary? I can't say because it'll never be a choice I have to make, but it does seem pretty extreme. I hope he's happy, though. It's gotta be a tough path to walk.

[Quasi-Stellar Object]

05:08 PM on 11/17/2010

You're absolutely right. Those of us born in the "right" body will never understand it I guess. Like you I'm supportive of Transgender people. I just question the motives of an establishment that thrives on conformity...for everyone.

Great screen name. After Exene Cervenka?

[Grokenspiel]

06:19 PM on 11/17/2010

The argument that gender reassignment is a result of societal pressure to conform is banal, hackneyed, and wrong. In actuality, it is an internal drive, to have congruence between the brain and body, without regard for what society expects. But you unintentionally tipped your hand with this: "A flaccid prosthetic phallus and a lifetime of hormone injections will make Chaz no more of a man than an appendectomy." The pseudointellectual arguments against gender reassignment are intended to camouflage your point of view that it's all a sham, that these individuals can never really be the sex they consider themselves to be, no matter what they do. So I'll turn your final questions back to you: What is at stake? [Why, precisely, are you] so threatened?

[Quasi-Stellar Object]

10:08 AM on 11/18/2010

"...gender reassignment is...an internal drive, to have congruence between the brain and body, without regard for what society expects."

Really? An "internal drive to have congruence between the brain and the body"? Then what did people do before surgery was invented and touted as an option? People have lived secretly as the opposite gender throughout history. Why not simply do that openly now?

"The pseudointellectual arguments against gender reassignment are intended to camouflage your point of view that it's all a sham, that these individuals can never really be the sex they consider themselves to be..."

Right. The sex THEY CONSIDER THEMSELVES to be.

1. It's in their head
2. The brain is driving it NOT the body. So...why change the body? A transgender perception of oneself is not a fatal illness, just a different state of being.

Again, what is so threatening about logic? Imagine transgender people in a world where they did not grow up being inculcated with hegemonic, heteronormative gender conformity. People would just be themselves naturally...regardless of the body they have.

[Quasi-Stellar Object]

10:16 AM on 11/18/2010

That's right: A flaccid prosthetic phallus and a lifetime of hormone injections will make Chaz no more of a man than an appendectomy.

You completely ignore the fact that being "male" or "female" is not an act of surgery and never can be. While someone can think they are the opposite sex they can never be given a body that actually works. So how "real" is that?

How much of a "man" will Chaz be or feel like at age 87 with non-functioning constructed genitalia and constant hormone injections?

[KayceW]

12:53 AM on 11/17/2010

Good for Chaz - he did what he had to do - and his outside now matches his insides. His mom will (hopefully) eventually get it right....and bless her for trying.

[ScottnLaguna]

08:46 PM on 11/16/2010

I wish Chaz the best. Life is tough enough being the child of a celebrity. BTW I totally blame Cher for glamerizing and popularizing tatoos on women. Maybe Greg Allman is to blame?

[Grokenspiel]

06:33 PM on 11/16/2010

A family member is transsexual, so I feel qualified to offer my opinion.

Seems every time there's an article about gender reassignment in HuffPost (or for that matter anywhere) it's sure to draw a mob of opinionated commenters voicing their disapproval or expounding on why the individual in question will never REALLY be the reassigned gender. Adjectives such as "mutilated," "delusional," "freak," and the like fly freely. Sometimes folks object on religious grounds, many of them self-righteously proclaiming "abomination" and "it's against God's will." And this: "God doesn't make mistakes." Yeah? Tell that to those born with a spectrum of physical problems. Is someone who has surgery to correct a congenital heart defect an abomination? The big difference seems to be that the correction of gender dysphoria involves... modifying the genitals. And for many folks that's unthinkable.

Following transition, my relative encountered the expected prejudice and bigotry, driven by fear and ignorance, as it always is. But as she says, "The only real choice I had was life through transition or death by suicide." Now she's happy and assimilated, with a career and a boyfriend who adores her. To those who feel she didn't make the right choice, I would question your humanity.

[Tartfuel]

08:53 PM on 11/16/2010

The lack of empathy people show transgendered men and women just shocks me although it shouldn't. Ignorant people fear and vilify what they do not understand rather than trying to see the other side. Cher put it perfectly. She is a woman inside and out and would hate being stuck in a male body. Chaz was stuck in a woman's body when she was always a man inside. The inside is the most important thing. If someone feels they have to get surgery to make the outside look like what you feel inside, then they should do it.

Your relative was and is very brave. I'm very happy for her!

[LaurenRose2K11]

11:06 PM on 11/16/2010

I am a 24 year old transgender woman. I came out in 2003 and soon after was friendless and the most of my family had voiced strong opposition to my "choice" to be who I am. I would be thrilled to have Cher as my mother despite her pronoun slips, because at least she's trying to be supportive of her son.
I have 1 close friend that I rely on for emotional support, and 2 seemingly open-minded close relatives that seem to want to get me, but tend to fall short. The rest of my "friends" became instant enemies when I came out, and the rest of family remains against me.
And to all of you people making hateful and stupid remarks on this thread...shut up and leave, or at least attempt to understand the world from the point of view of someone else. If you can't do that then take option 1 and leave the rest of us alone.
And to those you commenting only on how hard this is for parents of transitioning persons...please try and remember that it's 1,000,000 times harder for the person actually going through it. The transgender community is severely underrepresented in most advocacy groups, and legally we have far fewer rights than even gays and lesbians. We're more likely than gays and lesbians to attempt suicide and the majority of us attempt [a lot succeed] before the end of our teenage years.

[Patchdee]

03:02 AM on 11/17/2010

LaurenRose, my heart goes out to you! As an older, straight woman I have gay and transgender people in my close circle of friends. They are wonderful, caring, intelligent, funny people who anyone would be lucky to know. My friends are all lucky because their families have been very supportive. Maybe that's one of the advantages of being a Liberal! (GR)

I find it discouraging that so many people come to a site like HP to post their vile comments. If they would instead just spend that time trying to educate themselves.

Please be strong and proud. You have many people rooting for you!

[Grokenspiel]

05:03 PM on 11/17/2010

Yes, the smug and self-righteous tone, abysmal ignorance, and downright nastiness of some of the comments rival the juvenile comments on YouTube. There are evolved and enlightened folks here, to be sure, but the rest do not reflect well on the human race.

[Paul The Octopus]

06:23 PM on 11/16/2010

It's OK Cher. I'd be confused too!

[KayceW]

12:55 AM on 11/17/2010

Cher is working on it and will eventually "get it" - and I hope you do too. :o)

[Paul The Octopus]

01:30 AM on 11/17/2010

Hmm..What are you talking about? I don't know there was something for me "to get".

[Doc Wattson]

05:03 PM on 11/16/2010

When I saw the topic I had to open this story, skip the article, and go straight to the comments. Got my Popcorn ready. FIGHT!!!

[Paul The Octopus]

06:23 PM on 11/16/2010

Me too :-)

[KayceW]

12:55 AM on 11/17/2010

No fight - live and let live.

[schildpad]

10:35 AM on 11/16/2010

Even if she slips up, at least she's trying. Good for her.

[Tartfuel]

08:55 PM on 11/16/2010

Exactly. She sees Chaz and sees the little girl she brought up. It isn't easy to change pronouns without giving it thought each time until it becomes rote. One day Cher will only say "he," but less than a year after the reassignment surgery? People need to cut her some slack.

[fridakahlofan]

10:12 AM on 11/16/2010

I don't know what it's like for a woman to feel she is not in the right body and chooses to become a man or how a parent lives through this.
I cannot judge, all I can say is that Cher is a strong, loving Mom with alot of courage. Good wishes for her and her children.

[scorpioman]

07:41 PM on 11/15/2010

Hard for any parent to go through

[KayceW]

12:56 AM on 11/17/2010

I think it might be a bit harder for the child to make the decision to surgically switch genders.

[Patrick Brennan]

07:30 PM on 11/15/2010

I am disgusted. Cher - an icon of the GLBT community -- make that GLB community -- can't accept that Chaz is transgendered! WOW! That's how it sounds to me. Shame on her.

[Snappy8]

02:54 AM on 11/16/2010

She seems pretty accepting of Chaz in the video and articulates the problem Chaz faced.
It's a little harsh saying 'shame on her' because she still views her daughter as a daughter or as a lesbian. I'm not a mother, but I imagine it's unbelievably difficult to make an adjustment from having a daughter for 40 years to then having a son. She's going to slip up a lot with the pronouns and sexuality.

I admire Cher for talking about Chaz - she could have easily got her publicist to ban the topic from talk shows - but she hasn't. How many other high-profile parent(s) with transgendered kids are talking about it? Warren Beatty certainly isn't.

[Rozanna]

02:41 PM on 11/16/2010

Chaz was her daughter for 40 years. I can understand why it might be hard to refer to him as a son.

[Sal Lucido]

06:33 PM on 11/16/2010

Uh, yeah, DUH!!!!

[ErinLA87]

06:05 PM on 11/15/2010

So, let me get this straight... Chastity Bono was born a FEMALE and is now a MALE named Chaz, and now HER mother Cher has a SON and is calling HIM a LESBIAN? ok, now im just confused.

[situationcritical]

03:24 PM on 11/16/2010

It's fun to pretend that this is difficult to follow when it is not, right?

[KayceW]

12:59 AM on 11/17/2010

Ditto :o) One does not need a scorecard or an IQ that hovers above room temperature to understand it.