Instead, the 78-year-old discovered she had been officially registered under a completely different name. “I was shocked to discover that I was officially registered as Cheryl,” the singer revealed in her book. The discovery came in the late 1970s, as she sought to legally change her name to simply “Cher.”

Reflecting on her postpartum experience, Georgia told her daughter, “I was only a teenager, and I was in a lot of pain. Give me a break.”

The mix-up originated shortly after Cher’s birth in 1946. Georgia, still recovering in the hospital, hadn’t decided on a name when a nurse asked for one. Inspired by actress Lana Turner’s daughter Cheryl and her own mother, Lynda, Georgia suggested “Cherilyn.” However, the name was never recorded correctly on official documents.

In 1979, the artist explained her decision to simplify her name to just “Cher,” stating that a single name reduced confusion about how people should address her, particularly in light of her marriages and public image.

This deeply personal story is one of many shared in “The Memoir: Part One,” which took seven years to complete and tested Cher’s resilience. Writing the memoir was far from easy.

Her struggle wasn’t just emotional—it was also technical. Cher, who has dyslexia, found the writing process often frustrating. “It was really, really difficult,” she revealed in a recent Yahoo Entertainment interview.

“It was what it was,” she explained, adding that the relentless pace of her work during that time—long hours with no days off—had started to take a toll on her mental well-being.

These challenges, combined with her high standards, led the book to undergo three major rewrites with different ghostwriters. “When I read it the first time, it wasn’t about stories, it was about information,” she explained.

These experiences underscored her belief in the importance of storytelling as a way to connect with others and make sense of her journey.

Cher recalled her grandmother visiting her backstage one night with her childhood high chair, complete with a Bambi illustration, to recount memories.

The stories her grandmother shared during that visit reminded Cher of the power of storytelling and inspired her to persevere with the memoir. “I just thought, Oh, my God. I thought, Whatever I feel, I have an audience out there waiting, and I just don’t have time to feel this now. I’ll feel it later,” Cher added.