Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S16 Ep 8: Cher

Episode Date: December 6, 2023

There was only ever going to be one guest we would travel all the way to Paris to meet and that’s Cher! An icon meets another icon; Mum's Chicken Soup travelled all the way on the Eurostar & thanks to the brilliant room service team we served it up in a hotel suite for our favourite diva. Cher treated us to tales of fabulous nights dancing to Donna Summer at Studio 54, the delicious southern food her mum made her while growing up, how she became a star in the UK before anywhere else, and stories about her brand new Cherlato ice cream brand (and her thoughts on the Avocado flavour!). What a whirlwind trip this was - Cher, clear your diary, we’ll be coming to Hollywood to try your homemade ‘Diva Pasta Sauce’ before you know it! This really is an episode you don’t want to miss. Cher’s new album ‘Christmas’ is out now.x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bonjour, Anna. Bienvenue à Paris. Bonjour, ma chérie. Ça va? Ça va très bien. Parce que? Parce que je suis en Paris et le soleil br I'm going to eat steak frites. With? With Cher.

With Cher. For anyone who didn't understand what was going on, mum was saying that the sun was shining, we're in Paris, she's about to have a steak frite, and we're having a table manners with Cher. With Cher. I am meant to be flying to Chicago today for my own tour. However...

It was too good an opportunity. This is too good to be true. So I've still got to make my first show, don't worry. But I just popped into Paris for five hours to meet the icon, Cher. We are currently sitting in a hotel waiting for her arrival. We are near the L'Art de Triomphe. Yeah, we are very excited. It isn't necessarily the way that we do table manners usually,

so we're trying to make it homely. We've asked for a tablecloth. Mum has brought food over. I mean, what have you brought? Chicken soup has travelled food over. I mean, what have you brought? Chicken soup has travelled. Yes. The manager's face, she looked rather... I don't know what they're going to make of that in the kitchen.

So mum has brought it over in a container. Yeah. Do you think they'll know what a matzo ball is? A matzo ball. So we've asked for them to make it boil because we don't want to kill Cher. Yeah. And we're going to serve her some chicken supermanza balls. Yeah.

But we are here to discuss a new album. It's called Christmas. Christmas tunes. We've brought some mince pies as well. Well, it is a Christmas album after all. And I think Cher's got a bit of a banger on her hands. Is it fab? It's in my head. my head already I've heard it three times and I'm like DJ play that favorite song yeah I want to be dancing oh it's really good she debuted it at fashion week last night and at the H&M

Paco Rabanne collaboration. She's having a listening party later. We were invited, but we've got to go. What do you do at a listening party, darling? You listen to the album. So you sit there. Do they give you a little snack? I wonder if she finds them as painful as I do. Oh, do you do listening parties?

Well, I try and avoid them, but I'm going to ask her. But do you think she wants to take a few mince pies in later? Yeah. Hostess with the mostess. I can't believe that we've got to avoid them, but I'm going to ask her. But do you think she wants to take a few mince pies in later? Yeah. Hostess with the mostess. Yeah. I can't believe that we've got Cher on. I mean, not only do I sing a cover of her in my show, we grew up with Cher. Well, I remember her when she was sunny in Cher.

And I remember her as... She was kind of hippie. Mermaid. And then she, then, yeah. And she's always been so fabulous. Oh, she's, I mean, she's an icon. Yeah. She's a proper goddess.

A goddess who, I can't believe we're going to meet face to face and hear that voice. She's not only won an Oscar, Grammys. Is she one of those egos? She's not an egot, yeah. But I think she's got an Oscar, a Grammy. And she's Cher. She's got her own gelato, shellato. Shellato.

I wonder where that's sold, because I'm going to LA at the weekend. Well, she's got like a truck, hasn't she? An ice cream van. A shellato. Yeah. I wonder if it's come over to Paris. I feel like our questions about eating,

I feel like there's so much more we could be asking Cher. However, we're going to stick with the classics. I've got a feeling you don't look like Cher and eat many matzo balls. Maybe drink many broths. The broth will do her fine. I have to say, I felt it was one of my better suits. Oh, really? And it's very, very clear.

Beautiful. I hope that the Peninsula Hotel don't eat it before they bring it up here. I was just checking the bed for bed bugs because we're currently... In a siege. Under siege. It's in all the papers today about the infestation of the whole of Paris when bedbugs. Snuck as a bug in a rug.

I'm trying to not feel nervous. This feels quite... Don't feel nervous. I don't think I am nervous. She's a person, darling. No, she's Cher, Mum. She's kind of beyond a person. She's like an entity, kind of supernatural, fantastic being.

I have so many questions to ask her. Where are those Bob Mackie outfits? Does she try them on at night? Or is she just strictly an odd gal? I'm just wondering if she's coming in a leotard. Cher, coming up on Table Manners, a special in Paris. Hi, how are you doing? Oh, Cher, hi. I'm so thrilled to meet you. Thank you. I'm sorry I didn't get here earlier.

It's not... Come and sit down, have a Coca-Cola. OK. Would you like some chicken soup? We've got whatever you need. I made chicken soup for you. You did? Yeah, with matzo balls.

Okay. I schlepped from London in a freezer bag. So you must have it, Sharon. No, it's okay because I've been doing it for my health. Jessie, get us some soup, darling. Get us some damn soup. Do you want a matzo ball or do you want just chicken? No, thank you.

Oh, no, you know what? Oh, my God, how cute. We brought these because it's your Christmas album. So these are Fulton and Mason cookies. They're beautiful. You can take them home if you want. Thank you. Cher, I know that you have been run all over Paris.

So we're going to make this painless and probably quite fun. All right, good. And fabulous. painless and probably quite fun all right good and fabulous so the podcast is about food and family and food memories and mum and i have been doing it for about five years and we usually cook for you at our home but the only person we're going to schlep to paris for is and it's a pleasure to meet you thank you so like we can we just get straight into it? Sure, sure. I'm fine. I'm fine. Okay. So start at the beginning.

Who was around the dinner table when you were younger? Who was cooking and what were you eating? My mom was cooking. We were poor. So my mom was cooking. My sister and I were at the dinner table and my mom was from the South. So there was fried okra. There was fried chicken.

And then my mom found the only health food restaurant in the Valley. And so then we started to have like, I remember there was a huge wooden bowl of nuts and raisins, like unprocessed and just raw, and they were terrific. But my mother was kind of, my mother wasn't my mother made things that tasted good but they weren't necessarily like we had lots of beans lima beans the pink and the and the green and red beans and rice and my mom made unbelievable cornbread so it was mostly things from the south, you know, but my mom did it very well. And lots of salads and lots of iced tea. Can you cook? I can cook.

What I cook, I do well. What do you do well? Cher, if we were coming to yours for a little, you know, soiree, what would you be cooking for us? I'd make my sauce. I'd make my pasta sauce. Actually, it's so good that i for christmas because my friends kept asking me so i got a label it says diva pasta and i put it on the on the jars and i just started giving them for for christmas presents so what's in the diva pasta

well it's now it's chicken it used to be meat but it's and I don't there's no recipe. You know, it's like a thing that you like. I learned it from Sonny's mother. So it's like I would just watch her and she would throw things in. Was Sonny Italian? Oh, God. Yeah, he was Sicilian. And so you start with garlic and onions, of course.

And then you put in then you, then you fry the meat. What is it, chicken breast? You're saying you do chicken? Yes, yes. So chicken thighs or chicken breast? No, breast. Fine, got it. I'm not a, I don't like, well, no, no.

Sometimes I put it in because it gives flavor, you know, and white chicken doesn't have a lot of flavor in it. And then I put in some paste. And then I put in tomatoes. And then I put in a little bit of water. And then I put in oregano and sweet basil. And some poultry seasoning. No, no, Italian seasoning. And then I put in mushrooms and I bring it high and then I let it simmer for a while.

Oh, then I go in and I see, have I done a good job? What am I missing? What didn't I figure out? Do you taste it? Yeah. Of course, how Do you taste it? Yeah. Of course. How can you do it without tasting? Yeah, it's true.

So then I think, oh, I don't have enough sweet basil. I don't have enough oregano. My mushrooms have melted down so small. I never put enough mushrooms in because I never realized how small. They always go so fishy. Yeah, they go small. I know. Right.

And when you put them in they're so huge and they skin it sounds like chicken cacciatore doesn't it right but it's it's a it's a sauce yeah what's the pasta that you're gonna have with that what kind of what shape i like angel hair but nobody else does why why don't they like it? Because it's very little. Yes. So that's what you're going to cook us. Now I need to know, what's in Cher's freezer? What's always there that you'll always reach for?

Ice cream. Okay, which brings me on to gelato. Avocado flavour, I hear you've got. I didn't eat it. No. But it seemed like something that people like i was kind of against no i was against it actually and everybody went oh this would be so good for the esoteric you know eaters who are going to be there i don't think it lasted jen did it last

oh she's not here jen's been locked away yes that's true they were all locked away where can you get your ice cream? Because I'm going to L.A. on Saturday. Well, you know what? We just started. We didn't think it was going to be quite so successful. Well, so you don't share. Everything you do is successful.

I don't know, but it was, so we have a huge truck. What we wanted to do, too, was, not a van, gigantic van. Like an ice cream truck. Bigger. And so we wanted to go to neighborhoods so we would find out what kind of people liked it or interested. Do you have like a tune? Oh, it's great.

What's the tune that the ice cream... They play Cher songs. Oh, my goodness. Do they do it like a kind of ice cream fan so it's like... No, no, they just play them. And also, you have to look up the. No, no, they just play them. Oh, it's just like a game, right. And also, you have to look up the van because, or the truck, whatever we call it, because it's got pictures of me all over it, but really funny. And all the colors are like a rainbow.

Sounds fun. It's something that would make you want to go up to it. So you'd have your gelato in the freezer and what's the flavor that you're going to go for i'm a chocolate person do you get sprinkles on it is it just purist like chocolate no i get sprinkles on it what kind of sprinkles i don't know what they are i've never asked him i've never asked him um no how many flavors have you got there's a million of them but the truck it, we only can have five. Only five?

Why don't you just have a shop, Cher? Because it's only been out there for like four weeks or three weeks. It's not soft serve then? No. So it's a scoop. Yeah, and we make it downtown and then we have it brought in because we feel that the ice cream is the best at three hours. So eating it at three hours. So what made you decide to do a gelato? I love ice cream.

I've been eating it. There are pictures of me eating ice cream all over the world. So when I was in New Zealand and went, my assistant Jen brought me some ice cream all over the world so when i was in new zealand and went my assistant jen brought me some ice cream and i went this is the best ice cream i've ever tasted so i went to the i went to the shop and the first thing i saw was a huge glass like apothecary kind of thing with golden cones in it and i was like like a fly to honey okay like willie wonka right and so beautiful i thought i could make earrings out of these but they were carved in a beautiful fashion and then hand gold and so and so i started talking to giappo who was the man that made it and designed all the ice creams.

And he has unbelievable, like, designs on some of his ice cream. Not, I mean, they're kind of like sculptures. So, and we started to talk. And I said, you know, I've always wanted to have ice cream, you know, an ice cream company, but I never met the right person. And so it took us like five years you know what's the picture on the front of the the packaging there's a big picture of me like this eating an ice cream and then there's lots of kind of what like mary yeah not exactly no but it was it was

an actual picture of me and i was like doing that to the ice cream, which is the picture that I took. I don't even know where we were. Germany, maybe. And then there are these little shares in ice cream cones. I can't wait. I'm going to find that van when I'm in America. How are you going to find it? I don't know, but I'm going to find it.

It's in LA. Yes, and you can go online and find it. Oh, so it tells you where he's going to be that day I wonder whether I could get them for outside my gig

in LA next weekend they can we've that's another thing we've rented it out to all these businesses you know

companies so it's amazing like at Taylor did Taylor have it they had us in their parking lot Taylor Swift's concert I'm going to see where they're at, West Hollywood, next Monday.

Let's go. But I mean, like, so many people have wanted us, Warner Brothers. And I mean, like, a lot of companies. And we never even thought about that. We never thought about private companies. Can I ask you, well, I'm going to ask you, I'm throwing this at you, Cher. Okay. I want to know, did you lie on your stomach before you went to Studio 54?

No. So what did you just drink before you went to Studio 54? I don't drink. But did you never drink before? No, I don't drink. So you didn't need like a... I mean, it's not like I... You didn't need a glass of milk.

Don't drink. I don't drink. You're not interested. But like my, no, like the other night I had two glasses of champagne with my friends who always make fun of me because I don't drink, and I just said, okay, fine here. But I don't like alcohol really. I've had it a couple of times.

One time I was doing a shoot for Vogue, and I had to stand in ice water, so they kept giving me. We were in a place called Page, Montanaana and we had to stand in this lake up to our knees the this boy and i and i was shaking it was so cold and they kept giving me i don't know a hard liquor it was hard it was something like cognac or i don't know something so studio 54 what was it the most kind of defining song for you

of going to Studio 54 oh all of Donna Summer's songs were you know Last Dance I guess oh Last Dance

it was great it was I would say it was the best there's never been another club like it regarding the Bob Mackie are you sure

you don't want to do a Matz before I willie... Are you sure you don't want a mat? I will. No, I don't need a mat. Okay. But the carrots look good. Yeah, the carrots are great. Where are all the Bob Mackie outfits? Are they in your wardrobe?

No, no, no. We have a special warehouse thing for them. Do you ever go, I fancy dress up? No. Not really. I'm kind of a I don't know like if I'm going to do something or like if I'm going to go on stage you know Bob will make design the whole show and I wear like 13 costumes and I hear you even change your microphone color yes that's

effort I've got four costume changes this weekend, and I'm freaking out, and I'm definitely not changing my microphone. That's effort and attention to detail. I change my wig every time, too. Have you got your wig on now? Yeah. You think it's... Mum, she was blonde last night.

I don't have purple hair. No, I have my own hair. My own hair is like... How long is your own hair? Comes to about here. It's dark? It's black. Right.

It's the same hair I've always okay you don't colour it yet a little bit okay please I know do blondes have more fun let me just tell you this

I did a movie once and I just ruined my hair because the director was an idiot which movie Mask okay I love that film

and I am and through the thing because I've never done this before and I was such a fool. They asked me, the director said, I'll know if you're wearing a wig, not. And so he said, I want you to do your hair red. So when I came out of this place that he assured me would be good, I had black hair with kind of like red polka dotty things in it. It was really ruined. So I went to this woman, hair doctor, who does everybody in Hollywood. And she said, Cher, I can make it red, but it's really going to be hard on your hair. And she said, I don't know if I can keep it. I don't know if I

can fix it so that you can still, you know, have it. The condition won't be good. So I said, okay. So then, so I started then with a little piece, a hair piece and just kept the, you know, the front was the red that I'd gotten when we did the stupid whatever it was he wanted me to do to get my hair colored and then finally she kept saying you know it's not it's never going to be good we should just start to cut it so Renata made me a red a red wig and so we just started cutting it and then finally it was really short so i thought what the hell i'm gonna make it blonde so i made it blonde and i cannot tell you men like if you ask directions as blonde they will take you there if you ask directions with long black hair nothing yeah it's i don't

know it's over there somewhere oh my goodness it was such an experience like to go from being black hair to blonde and the men going oh yes we can here it's over here let me just walk you men

this soup is this soup is excellent mom it is good It's really good And I've been having to have Chicken soup To keep up my strength Yeah

You know I have I have it I have either bone broth Or chicken broth Yeah I make this for Jessie When she's not well

And send it in a taxi Can I send it It's probably I mean Shet Everyone wants a piece of you I mean we do We wanted an hour of you.

But like, how does it feel? You are, I believe, is 25 years old now. I sing it in my concert. I don't know if that's weird for you that I'm like. Not at all. It goes down like, I mean, it goes down better than any of my bloody songs. Everyone knows it and sings it. It's, I mean, you've been through so many decades and so successful.

How does it feel right now? You're in Paris, you've got the Christmas album coming out. You're so relevant. You are so timeless and brilliant and funny and amazing and exciting. Like, how does it feel now compared to, I don't know, when you were starting out? Do you still enjoy it? I presume so. Yeah, I wouldn't have done it.

Look, I have said for all the years that I've been working, I will never make a Christmas album. I do not like Christmas albums. I don't want to have one. So I said to the label, I said to the label, if you want me to do one, you have to let me do it on my own and don't get involved. And they were like, so terrific. The label was so terrific, Warner Brothers.

And I think they call themselves something else now. But I was really happy. So I started picking out. I had this team of kids that wrote three songs that were amazing. But the songs are Christmas-ish songs. So which ones are those? Well, DJ. Okay, so we have a mutual friend, Sarah Hudson.

It's Sarah. I know, because she's just been posting about it because it debuted last night at the H&M. I've known Sarah since she was three years old. I know because she's been Instagramming about it.

How do you know? Sarah wrote Curls with me. She's amazing. But she's from kind of rock royalty, right? Right, right, right. Well, her dad was my friend too.

Mark. What's his surname? Mark Hudson? Yeah. Oh, right. Okay, fine. And what band was he in? He was a writer

for a lot of bands. He wrote for Aerosmith. I mean, he's a prolific writer. But yes, you've got all these, I love that you're called, Sarah will really appreciate the kid in that. But like, you've got all these- She's a kid to me.

I mean, you've got all these amazing writers. You're writing, like DJ play a Christmas song is, I feel like your Christmas belief, right? Right, I think so. I mean, it went off last night Were you there? No I saw on Instagram I'm stalking you Cher like the rest of the world

do you know what I mean? Like how did it feel to play it? Your mum's not stalking me are you? No not at all I'm just admiring I feel that you've been in our lives for so long. Yeah I have So you know I can remember you when you were sunny and share. Right.

And you know that when we came, how we became famous was coming to London. To London, yeah. Right, we couldn't get arrested in America. They hated us. And Jack Good, who did Ready Steady Go, I think, in England, said, because he was doing a show called shindig and he wanted us on but we looked so strange that the audience write-ins were not good so he would have us every once in a while and finally he said look i can't do this anymore go to england we said

well we're poor we don't have it he said find it sell everything do whatever you have to do but he said they will appreciate ready steady go was such an amazing music program. And it was on on a Friday night and everybody watched it. And you watched and all the fashion was great. And there was dancing and there was a big audience that danced. It was a great show. So you came to perform as Sonny and Cher on Ready, Steady, Go. But then you had your own show.

No, we didn't have a job. We didn't have a job when we landed. We got kicked out of the Hilton Hotel. And a man came and took our picture. We were on the front page of a big newspaper. And then the next day, people were calling it Ready Steady Go. Why did you get kicked out? Why did you get kicked out of Hilton?

Because of the way we looked, they wouldn't let us in. What? Because you looked like hippies? Yeah, well, there was no word then. There were no hippies then. There weren't hippies. It was pre-Woodstock. Yeah.

And Woodstock was just coming in and you came into your own. I mean, there was no mamas and papas. There were no people that were, they were flower kids, but there were no people who looked like us. You know, the Beatles had nice little haircuts and cute suits. But we were, we were like, we thought we looked beautiful. You did. Right.

But people were, because you're English. Yeah, we loved you. So, but. You must be the most dress, fancy dress couple that everyone always dressed up as Sunny and Cher. Did you ever? Yeah. I'm sure I had a lot.

I had... Because my hair was long down to here. You'd wear, like, bus stop. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you'd go as Sunny and Cher if you went to a fancy dress party and try and imitate you. Oh, and it was great.

We were so happy and i went to biba oh the best shop in the world but i when i got there it was there there must have been a dairy someplace close by but when i got there there was a big sign on the floor that i had to step over that said biba and it was in a little house yeah but still the things were amazing amazing badly made but fantastic yeah but it didn't make any difference because you have one and the color they aubergine was the color and grays and dark lovely colors and crate big white trousers yes i mean i was i was really happy to find something that i could buy because my friends and I, we made our clothes. So to be able to go there and see something that I could relate to, you know.

And it wasn't expensive. Right. Because everybody wanted to dress in English clothes in America. Did they? Oh, God, yeah. And you could be English and a terrible singer, and you could go to America, and everybody would love you and think you were the hottest thing that ever happened.

I like Sandy Shaw. Oh, we loved Sandy Shaw. Is she a terrible singer? No. No, she was a great singer. No, she was a great singer. She didn't wear shoes. Oh.

And she won Puppet on a String. She won the Eurovision Song Contest. Oh. Puppet on a String. She won the Eurovision Song Contest. Oh, like a puppet on a string. Back to food. Okay. Last supper. We ask everybody their last supper.

It doesn't have to be a morbid last supper. It could be that you are going to go to a desert island for a year and this is the supper the the dinner that you would have a starter or appetizer a main a dessert a drink of choice and actually what i'd like to know as well is who would be around that dinner table from your cast members that you've been in various films? Who would make the cut? Meryl, for sure. Yeah, really. Silkwood. Yes.

Then Eric Mask, my son. Then who? Winona or Christina, they make him. Oh, yeah, Christina. And Sam Elliott, Mask. Okay. Yeah. Garth.

And Nicholas Cage. Nicholas Cage. I take him as that 26-year-old something. Nicky is crazy. I got him that job and kept him that job because I saw him in Peggy Sue. Oh, I remember Peggy Sue. And when I saw him, then we were doing We were doing Moonstruck

They said Who would you want to be opposite you And I went Nikki Cage And they went no he's crazy We can't have him I said you know what if you don't have him I won't do the picture That was perfect for the role

And also was he a good kisser Oh I don't remember Oh come on No but my boyfriend my boyfriend my i never kissed him my boyfriend was on set the whole time it was kind of made me a little uncomfortable but yeah nicky was a good kisser we only had like what a couple of kisses or maybe one it was not like the brilliant scene where he's like i'm gonna make you're like take it all out of me it's so's so good. I like slapping him. It was really funny.

Oh, yeah. Well, yeah. Because I was supposed to slap him one time. And the director came up and said, Cher, when it's done, slap him again. Was that a real slap? Yeah. That was a slap. But it wasn't a, you know, it wasn't a, I didn't kill him.

I just slapped him, you know, because I needed to do it. And did you, was it in the script, the snap out of it? Yes. But the second slap wasn't? No, and it wasn't the way I said it. It was like the director had a different idea. And then, but when I did it, he loved it. So, you know, sometimes you, director doesn't,

I mean, there are great directors and great directors don't tell you how to give readings because actresses doesn't like i mean there are great directors and great directors don't tell you how to give readings because actresses don't like that unless they're not having unless they're not getting it do you guys have the same earrings on no um no okay you have a smaller and she has bigger with no yeah with no pearls um so really good directors will only give you something. It's like Mike Nichols during Silkwood. He would sit us down. Meryl and I have a scene on the swing,

and we've just had a fight. And he was so great because we used to sit together all day long. He kept us separated the whole day. And then when we were going on the swing, he told us a story. He always used to do this. He would tell you a story, and when he was finished,

you would know exactly what to do. You know, it was like when he told me that one, he told us the story then. I was sobbing on that swing, but it was like a lot, what started it out was his story and then meryl and my chemistry did did the rest but yeah is she the reason you did mama mia too yeah yeah yeah i mean yeah of course because i love her and she's great and i knew that

she was gonna be great and we were gonna have fun and you know and we did back to the food last supper so we've got the guests i'm trying to think of something be invited absolutely no absolutely absolutely val kilmer would be invited he's an is he an ex is he an ex-boyfriend yes and thees are at the table, I like this show I'm close with all of them I have a feeling I have a feeling that you have to like someone

a lot before you go to bed with them because if you don't then when you break up then there's nothing you can never be friends because you don't, then when you break up, then there's nothing, you don't have anything. You can never be friends because you weren't friends before. Jessie, that wouldn't apply to you

because you've only ever had one boyfriend, really. Mum, I've shagged a bit. Piss off. Thanks. Jessie married her 18-year-old childhood sweetheart. How did that work out for you? It was still going well. We've got three kids. Oh, come on. Yeah.

I'm not going to talk about my sex life now with you no thank you um appetizer okay would it be your mom's cornbread no because my mom's cornbread you have to eat with the main okay like but we only ate it with beans so whatever and my mom you know, my mom used to crush up, I never understood this, but it's a southern way, southern thing, where you crush up the cornbread in buttermilk. I never figured it out, but it's a thing, you know? I can see that. Delicious.

Yeah. My dad used to dip bread in milk and eat it. Okay, well, cornbread is the same thing, only it's got a lot more kind of grainy substance. Not grainy, but you know it's got that texture to it. So I'm trying to think because I don't think about food. You don't think about food. It doesn't dominate.

No, no, no, it doesn't really, but I like it. What do you think about the most if you're not i think about food the most what are you thinking about what consumes you nothing really consumes me whatever i'm thinking or doing at the time consumes me. But I'm kind of a, yes, I love Christmas dinner. I love turkey. I love stuffing. Do you make it?

No. That's okay. But I used to. Where are you going for Thanksgiving this year? I don't know probably my sister my kids um my boyfriend uh my my family friends people I've known for a long time there's a lot of times people don't make plans for their house because they don't feel like going through the whole thing. You know, it's a lot. You can get it catered.

No, no. Any Christmas traditions that Cher has that we must all instill? Doing the tree. Do you like tacky lights? Like in the song, I Like Christmas. I just need to know this because I'm the tacky lights kind of girl. I do like it. I don't like the white ones.

They're too serious. No, I don't either. You know who else likes the tacky lights that we had on the podcast Sir Paul McCartney he used to have like flashing flashing

different coloured lights yes so we have flashing lights too and I have a lot of palm trees in my front yard and we do the you put lights up yeah

and it's quite beautiful I love that I guess I do really love Christmas that's good because you've got an album to sing about who was it that got snow brought in for Christmas Yeah, and it's quite beautiful. I love that. I guess I do really love Christmas. That's good because you've got an album to sing about. Who was it that got snow brought in for Christmas? What, who was in? Was it on our podcast and he had snow brought in? It would have been an American, no doubt, that lives in LA.

I think so, yeah. In Malibu, we have no snow. Are you in Malibu? Yes. I love Malibu. Where's your favourite spot to eat in Los Angeles? Malibu. Yeah.

No, I like to eat in my bedroom. Do you? In bed? Do you ever look at the city? No, I have big couches and I like, oh baby, do I ever. I've got in all of the rooms, the bedrooms in my house, you can either see two views of the ocean or three views of the ocean and i built it specifically so it would feel like it was like right near you and what i like

about looking at the ocean is there's no there's nothing there's no lights there's no you know malls there's no nothing to get in your way and so everything is endless and everything is possible yeah malibu is so amazing because of all the birds and the seals and sometimes the dolphins oh all the time dolphins and and and on whales yeah we see whales too yeah yeah we saw well once didn't we i don't know if it was a big dolphin or not. I'm not sure. Sam thought he did. So when you're sitting in your bedroom, your boudoir, in the morning, how do you like your eggs? I like eggs. I know this is not very popular, but I like my eggs hard. I don't want them.

Well, boiled eggs. No, no. I like scrambled eggs, but i don't like them running at all no you wouldn't do well in france i know or even in england where you're going dipping yeah you don't you're a hard boiled egg kind of gal i don't like hard boiled eggs well my assistant gives them to me because they're quick and i don't want to be bothered a lot of the time but i do enjoy um i do enjoy um a nice scrambled eggs and and i i don't have real bacon anymore but i have turkey bacon and i enjoy that it's a little bit salty for me but it's okay so does your boyfriend cook because i've got a feeling you don't cook much no he doesn't he doesn't cook either no he doesn't he doesn't cook. He doesn't cook either. No, he doesn't. He doesn't. Gosh, I hope someone's looking after you.

Oh, I have a good cook. Good. Yeah. But, yeah, you know, it's strange for me. I worked my whole life, you know, and so I was working, you know. I didn't have much time. And Sonny was a cook. Sonny could cook anything.

You could, like, i would go into the refrigerator i mean this is when we were poor i would go into the refrigerator and i would say son there's nothing we haven't got anything we got to go to the market he'd go walking it goes like that that that and it would be like are you kidding me are you kidding me and what did you do this with? Where did you meet him? Oh, okay, I was 16. 16. Yeah. And I was with a girlfriend of mine and her friend in a restaurant underneath a radio station, KFWB.

And we were sitting there, and there were a whole bunch of record people, you know, sitting at the tables, and I wasn't paying any attention I was talking to my friend and then I heard people say Sonny hey Sonny come sit with us son hey son come on over here and I'm thinking who's this guy so I turn around and I swear to God it was like when Tony and Maria saw each other at the dance. I don't know what it was. I mean, he was not handsome, but he was dressed so unbelievably, so cool. And he had this kind of swagger and the most beautiful hands I've ever seen on a man. And he came up and one of the guys that was a promotion man was sitting next to us.

And so Sonny sat down, and just they started talking, and my friend and I were sitting there talking. And then they made arrangements to go out dancing that night. So the four of us went out dancing, and my friend Melissa, she didn't dance, and Red didn't dance, and Sonny't dance, and Sunny and I danced. So we just danced. But then he moved next door to her, but she didn't like him. Do you remember which song was playing?

Oh, God, no, because I had no interest in him or the song. I just wanted to dance. And so he moved next door to Melissa, and she didn't like him, except he moved into an apartment building that were all women that were all beautiful that kind of woman I was right and and so I had gotten kicked out of my apartment because I lost my job and the girls were there were three girls in there already why did you lose your job chef you know what i did what one day i just thought i don't like this job and i just went in and i grabbed my purse i didn't care about getting a

paycheck and i just walked out what was the job i was this is a terrible job i didn't even know this job existed i monitored time cards okay i i salute you for clocking out because it was essential. Yeah, that's a bad job. No, but also it's you. Also, I'm dyslexic, so my father, my stepfather, had to give me like a little sheet that would tell me how to decipher it. And also I was like, I was narking on the people that worked there, you know, but it was the only job I had.

Then I got a job at See's Candy, which was really fun, and the old ladies, they all had blue hair, but they were so sweet to me, and it was an easy job, and I got mostly in the back to, you know, at Easter time, that was my favorite time, I would be making the baskets, putting more candy in than I was supposed to. But were you singing? baskets putting more candy and i was supposed to and you know but were you singing i sang from the time i was little yeah i thought everyone did yeah because truthfully i have my mother's voice exactly and you cannot tell the difference so my my my

grandfather would come out to visit us and bring his guitar my uncle would bring his guitar. My uncle would bring his guitar. My mom, my grandfather, and I would just sing, mostly Southern songs because that's what everybody knew. So I just, at that point, I didn't know that people didn't sing. You know, I just thought everybody... And what sort of music? It was Southern. What did your mom sing? That's why I learned Southern songs

because they came from the South. So, you know, so that's what we did. But you songs because they came from the south so you know so that's what we did you don't look like a southern type girl well my father's from armenia yeah share we've got about five more minutes with you so i'm gonna hold on to these five minutes okay um but i i wanted to ask before we let you go the you talked about good directors and you know for me you know mermaids you've talked about it i'm sure so much but i just want to know the the kitchen dancing scene yeah when you write the end when you're all they just said do what you think you should do it was like that's what we just

started jumping around it's so joyful right and it was not staged and in the slightest and we just all were riffing and having a good... But I mean, those girls and I were so close. We were just really, really close. And the director tried to separate us. He didn't like it very much that we were too close because he couldn't... He couldn't...

By that time, I had done a couple of movies. And so he couldn't push me around like he tried to push the girls around so I kind of saved them so we were we were we were like mom and two daughters that's why I think it was so believable no I mean it was fun we had so much fun in that scene it was just great and when we bumped it was like it was great it looked it makes me so happy I wanted to know if you could go back to any decade which would it would it be the here and now or is there one I don't know time whether it's the fashion the music the the company where would you go well I'm happy I'm pretty happy right now. But I would go. It's hard. 70s, 80s, because my life was completely different. First, I was a singer, then I was unemployed, then I was an actress.

I was a singer, and then in between 75 or whatever, I was struggling to do whatever because my album stopped selling, and I got dropped by two record companies. Wow, he's laughing now. So, yeah, and then I got a job. Robert Altman, who's a great director. So I went to audition for Joe Papp, and he said, you're very good, but I have nothing for you at this time. I walked out, and there was one of those little memo things, and it said, Robert Altman called you.

So what seems to have happened was my mother and his wife were friends. My mom had my New York, was my mother and his wife were friends. My mom had my New York, because I'm from California, my New York number just scribbled, scribbled next to him. She called him thinking she was calling me and she said, can I talk to Cher? And he had been having a nap, but he's kind of grouchy anyway. And so he said, no, why would Cher be here? And she said, oh, I'm sorry, I thought, and he went, Georgia? And she said, yes. And he said, Cher's not here. And it's Bob. And she said, oh, damn, I must have gotten you confused.

So he said, what is she doing here? She wants to be an actress. She went there to audition, and he was doing a play. So anyway, he called and said, I'm not offering you this, but I'm going to send a script round to you. And it didn't get there, but it was because of the Puerto Rican day parade. So I thought he was just lying. So next day, and I said, I can't come in for a reading because I'm dyslexic. I can act or I can read, but I can't do both. He said, it doesn't make any difference. I just want to hear your voice. So I went in and one of the

actresses, I was in the elevator with her. I was in a black motorcycle jacket. And then I followed her out. She said she thought I was going to mug her. So we got, we got in to inside and Sandy Dennis was there and all these people, all these actresses were there and we sat on the ground, you know, on the carpet and everyone was supposed to read. And he wanted me for a part that I said, I can't do it. And he said, are you telling me you don't have a job? Nobody wants to hire you and you're telling me what you can't do. And I said, okay, you'll see. So anyway, we went there, we sat down, I started to read. Sandy Dennis told me it was the worst reading she'd ever heard in her life but she said she I was she said but you were fascinating so I read for both parts I was right he I wasn't right for the part he wanted me to play and then I got the job and and it was it was

great you have got a wonderful voice thank you Cher it's an absolute honour to spend time with you and just to hear your stories. I could hear them for hours and hours. I wish you all the best with the Christmas record. Thank you. And I think we're all going to be hearing DJ play a Christmas song in the clubs. Thank you. And I really, it's such a treat to meet you.

You're incredibly inspiring and everyone loves you. But yeah, good luck with the record. Thank you. Keep on looking fabulous. Keep on being fabulous. And thanks for giving us this time. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you so much. just another low-key end to the low-key day we've had doing our outro on the eurostar the

last eurostar bag after fashion week the the train is full people are looking at us um sorry i'm just checking instagram no People are looking at us. Sorry. I'm just checking Instagram. No, I'm looking at you, darling, avoiding bed bugs. Well, we had 49 minutes with the icon. The icon. She was two and a half hours late.

I have to say, firstly, the reason maybe why I was going like the clappers with the questions is because we had a limited time. You did go full on, darling. Mum had to make every second count. I was so fascinated by looking at how beautiful she looked. Yeah, let me just tell everybody. Cher is beautiful. Beautiful? Beautiful, kind, fabulous, interesting, sexy, glamorous.

But not interested in food much. I mean, I couldn't even get a last supper out of her. Literally, I don't think we even got a starter. No, cornbread with milk. But you now all know that her favourite place to eat is not a restaurant, it's in her bedroom. I'd say this is top two most bizarre situations to be in. Yeah, I hope Justine has survived. Poor Justine.

The soup. It was delicious. We delayed it by a quarter of an hour, every quarter of an hour for two hours. For three hours. The soup was good. I don't know if it was boiling. It was delicious. It was very good. The't know if it was boiling it was delicious

it was very good the matzo ball was beautiful I could do with some now to be honest do you know what? my Tupperware's gone sorry for your loss the bastards have kept it back because of the soup

thank you to Cher. For being such a gorgeous woman. I mean, you were really late, but I guess that's what... You're like, you're top five divas, aren't you? So I don't mean diva in a negative way. I mean diva in the best kind of way. Fabulous way. And she was so lovely.

And she took all the photos. And she could have been there for ages and she had something else to do but she wanted to stay she wanted to stay with us gals i'll score off and i'm going to i hope we get the ice cream cart in la yeah i'm going to try and work this out i'm going to try and work it out um i'm speaking in very hushed tones um because the euro stuff you know mom i did a gig on the euro star once oh once. Oh, yeah, you did, darling. Yeah, that was when I was a backing singer and I certainly wasn't coming to Paris to interview Cher.

Was that when you were with Man Like Me? Yeah. Things have changed, Mum. I know. Gone up in the world. I know. On the train. Yeah, on the train.

I don't think they've ever done one ever again like that. But, yeah, we did a gig on the train. What I will say is I also apologise. It was very... it was snappy. But I also, I think I'm not intimidated. I think I was... Starstruck. A bit starstruck.

Yeah, I was starstruck. So I felt like a bit of a fool. I was mesmerised by how beautiful she was. Yeah. She's older than me, Jessie. And she looked 20 years younger than me. Maybe you need to start wearing a bandwagon. It's slow, darling, and she looked 20 years younger than me. Maybe you need to start wearing a bandwagon. It's slow, darling, saying she didn't.

I'm sorry. No, she didn't. Christ. Because I had for another birthday. She was lovely. She also had a very noisy jacket on, so I apologise if you hear a bit of banging. I also loved how she knew all the famous, like, oh, Meryl's my best friend. Nicky.

Nicky. Nicholas Cage. Nicholas Cage. Oh, Nicky was... Nicky Na. Nikki. Nikki. Nicholas Cage. Nicholas Cage. Oh, Nikki was... Nikki Naughty Nikki, yeah. And then... Plenty of... I mean, we almost deserve a part two

just so we can get anecdotes and we get her on that glass of champagne. Do you think she would? I don't know. Yeah, I think... She said at the end, she said, I have to say, it's so much better being interviewed by women.

It is. I just want to thank Cher for giving us the time because everyone wants a piece of her. People adore her. You feel like you've kind of been blessed by a saint when you're in her presence. Do you believe in life after love, Jessie? I do. And if I could turn back time, I would have gone for a better lunch. Yeah, me too. If I'd known that they were going to...

Just bring some cups with the champagne, please. Yeah, before it gets warm. I should put it in the cooler bag. Thank you for listening and I hope you all enjoyed it.