Cher Says Meeting Sonny Bono 'Wasn't Love at First Sight' — but Was Something She'd 'Never Felt Before'

Not all storybook romances start with a spark: Cher revealed she didn't experience love at first sight with Sonny Bono.

In an upcoming appearance on CBS Sunday Morning, Cher, 78, sat down with Anthony Mason to reflect on her and her late ex-husband's love story.

"In 1962, you meet Sonny in a coffee shop. He's wearing a mohair suit and a mustard color shirt." Mason said. Cher, with a smile on her face, replied, "With a white collar and Beatle boots, but they were called Cuban."

When asked what she thought of Bono in that moment, Cher said, "I thought it was like when Tony met Maria. I mean, everybody disappeared," referring to the iconic couple in West Side Story.

While it felt like the whole world stopped, Cher admitted, "He didn't like me."

"It wasn't love at first sight. It was something," she said. "I never felt it before."

As their story goes, then-16-year-old Cher accepted 27-year-old Bono's offer to be his housekeeper and eventually entered a romantic relationship with one another.

"He liked my girlfriend," Cher revealed. "When I had to go live with him, he said, 'You know, you can come and stay with me.' And I was like, 'OK.' And he went, 'No, no. I don't find you particularly attractive.' So I was upset and happy at the same time."

Mason asked if their 11-year age gap was an issue, and Cher said the singer was "kind of childish" which allowed him to be "real" with her. "Because I didn't expect anything. I didn't want money. I didn't think about anything, you know."

The "Believe" singer said the women attempting to court Bono at the time "wanted him to be grown up." Cher recalled a day where they "got a candle and we just watercolored all day long. We [were] trying to get it right. And I don't think those ladies wanted to do that."

The couple went on to form the duo Sonny & Cher in 1964, the same year they tied the knot. The two welcomed their child, Chaz, in 1969 and divorced in 1975. In a 2023 interview with PEOPLE, Cher revealed that Bono "pissed me off royally and hurt me.”

Prior to his death in 1998, Bono reached out to extend an olive branch. "One day he came into the kitchen at my house and said, ‘Cher, I want to apologize. I realized that I hurt you in so many ways, and I was wrong,’” the singer recalled. “That went a long way for me.”

The full Cher interview on CBS Sunday Morning will air this Sunday, Nov. 17 at 9 a.m. ET.