January 8, 2025: Cher stayed with Sonny Bono for so long because of the success of their TV show.

The 78-year-old singer starred alongside her ex-husband on ‘The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour’ for four seasons, between 1971 and 1974, and Cher admits that it actually helped to extend their marriage.

The pop star – who was married to Sonny between 1964 and 1975 – said on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’: “Doing the show kept us together, because on the show, we had so much fun. We were equal, you know?

“That was – I mean, I loved – I loved it. We loved it.”

Cher acknowledged that they “worked so well together” in spite of their behind-the-scenes troubles.

She said: “We worked so well together. We had so much fun, and it really kept us closer longer than I really wanted.”

Cher enjoyed huge success alongside Sonny – who died in January 1998, aged 62 – at the start of her career.

But the music star was warned by record executive David Geffen, her then-boyfriend, that she was trapped in “involuntary servitude” to her husband.

In ‘Cher: The Memoir’, she recalled: “I told him I didn’t know [how I was paid] because I’d never read it. ‘It’s about time you did,’ he replied, and somehow he got his hands on the document, I’m not sure how.

“He called me up after reading it and said, ‘Sweetheart, this contract is involuntary servitude. You work for Sonny. You have no rights, no vote, no money, nothing. You’re an employee of something called ‘Cher Enterprises’ with a salary you were likely never paid and three weeks’ vacation per year. He owns 95 per cent of the company and the rest belongs to his lawyer, Irwin Spiegel.'”