‘Alright, sit down, because I’m going to tell you a fabulous story’
Words by Katherine Benson
Style icon, Hollywood diva and queen of cheekbones, Cher recently entertained her audience at Atlantic City with her stories of battling sexism in Hollywood.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, during her sold-out concert at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, the legendary actress delighted fans with an outrageous anecdote involving Hollywood director George Miller and former co-star Jack Nicholson.
Begining with sharing her insecurity about turning 40 - or in Hollywood terms, the age of retirement for female actresses - Cher described feeling nervous, but positive about this new decade of her life, ‘I went to sleep, dreaming these fabulous thoughts of being 40 and it was good, and I was going to get all these movies and I was just so happy’.
However, Cher went on to describe the moment she had feared with an insulting phone call she received from George Miller, who at the time was directing Witches of Eastwick.
Cher recounted the cruel comments from Miller, ‘I just wanted to call and tell you that I don’t want you in my movie and Jack Nicholson and I think you’re too old and you’re not sexy’. And it didn’t stop there, according to Cher, ‘He didn’t want to hang up. He just wanted to tell me everything: “I hate the way you walk, I hate the way you talk, I don’t like the colour of your hair, I don’t like your eyes.’”
Cher then joked that ‘tears started streaming down [her] old face’, but in true Cher style, she snapped back.
‘I was like, “O.K., look motherfucker . . . you didn’t find me under a rock. I was nominated for an Academy Award for Silkwood. And I got the Cannes Film Festival award for best actress for Mask, so goodbye!”’
Cher did end up staring in Witches of Eastwick, alongside Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer and amazingly became close friends with Nicholson.
And at 72 she is still the reigning dancing queen, stealing the spotlight in Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again.
What a woman.