Cher revealed in her new memoir ‘Cher: The Memoir, Part One’ that Gene Simmons confessed his love after their first date.
They met at a reception for President Ford, and she initially mistook him for actress Jean Simmons. He impressed her and later brought KISS merch for her child, Chaz. After a concert date, he called to apologize, but Cher said she and her friend weren’t interested. Simmons later called her from Japan, running up a $2,800 phone bill.
“That’s when he blurted out that he loved me,” the singer wrote in her memoir. “We hadn’t even kissed. We’d only been out once before he left. What is it with these men?”
After breaking up with Gregg Allman in 1979, Cher started dating Simmons. In a 1979 People interview, Cher called it ‘the best relationship I’ve ever had with a human being’ but admitted they weren’t fully monogamous.
She explained, “I’m going through a very liberated phase right now. I think I have a very masculine attitude to dating … Gene might spend time with another woman and stay the night, but he wants her to leave in the morning so he can get on with his day.”
The singer clarified that she only dated other men “for companionship. Gene is the only one I’m crazy about. All my relationships are serious. I don’t screw around.”
“I’m crazy about Cher, nuts about her. She’s my first love. Cher’s an untainted soul who has never done anything bad to anybody,” the KISS bassist also said of their relationship.
Despite their love, Gene left Cher for Diana Ross. In 2022, Simmons revealed on a podcast how Cher discovered his affair with Ross during their open relationship. The rocker recalled, “I wasn’t privy to the conversations, but soon after that, I bought a place for Cher in New York on Fifth Avenue, and she had her designer design it. It was a penthouse on top of 64th Street. It’s still a lovely place overlooking the Children’s Zoo. As a matter of fact, it was an amazing place.”
“The elevator comes right into the place, you know, all the accouterment. By the time it was finished, I had to go back out on tour. Then Cher noticed I didn’t stay there and that I was staying a few blocks away with Diane at her place. So, she said, ‘What’s going on?'” Simmons added.
In her memoir, which arrived on November 19, Cher shares her life story, including her early fame, marrying Sonny Bono, and forming Sonny & Cher. ‘Part Two’ will be released next year.
