Don't get me wrong Cher is a legend but I remember a story where William friedkin said that she basically would sit in her room all day long come out when it was time to work and then go back in her room. Sonny was basically the guy who came up with everything and did all the footwork
Cher sang on every Sonny & Cher hit. When she left, she found out who owned Cher Enterprises: Sonny 95%, his lawyer 5%. Cher 0%.
She says she sat him down, asked him why and reminded him: "I was there with you every day for 12 years. I was by your side. I was there when we crashed."
His answer, she says: "I always knew you'd leave me."
The divorce was finalized in 1975. In her 2024 memoir, she writes the contracts were designed to strip her of her income. Sonny died in 1998.
"I left with a car and my clothes," she told Howard Stern. By her count, the money was worth more than $170 million in today's dollars.
The case for Cher: her voice, 12 years of her life. Half the work, half the money.
The case for Sonny: he wrote and produced "I Got You Babe," built the act and ran the business back when they were borrowing money from their own chauffeur. She signed the contracts.
In the video below, Cher explains what she thinks he meant.
If one partner builds the act and the other is the star, should the money be split 50/50?