04 September 2013
Newsdesk
Cher admits she had no "valid reasons" for finding it difficult to accept her transgender son.
The 67-year-old singer has son Chaz with her ex-husband Sonny Bono, who died in 1998. Chaz was born a girl and underwent gender transition to become a man, something his mother had a difficult time understanding at first.
"You wouldn't think it, but I think I knew Chaz was gay way before anybody else, when she was young. I think of Chaz in the past as a she. Chaz is now definitely a he," she told BBC News.
"I didn't take it well and I don't know why exactly, there were many reasons, but none of them were valid."
The pair are now on better terms and Cher is also reigniting her music career with a new album called Closer to the Truth and an accompanying tour.
Her previous series of shows was called Living Proof: The Farewell tour and began in 2002. She didn't expect to be hitting the road again, but feels ready to tentatively dip her toe in that pond again now.
"When you have something new to say or new to sing, then it makes the idea of going on tour more reasonable," she explained.
"I did a tour for three-and-a-half years and it almost killed me. There's a finite amount of energy that I have. It's pretty boundless, but it's still not endless.
"I know if I don't do it now, I'll never do it. I'm not going to do that many dates to begin with to see if I am still up for this."
Cher's first record came out in 1965 and she is still astounded by how much has changed within the industry since then. There is a lot more pressure on young artists now and she feels lucky to be at an age where she doesn't care about others' opinions.
"I could ride my motorcycle around and nobody would follow me or take pictures. I could go dancing and dance forever. Now I've just got to be prepared to have sweaty pictures [of me] everywhere," she laughed.
"Maybe I long for a time where everything wasn't a reality show and you had to do something to become famous. That's the old timer in me."
