Cher is an undeniable powerhouse with a record-breaking career spanning over seven decades in entertainment. But before she was known worldwide as Cher, she was Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPierean aspiring performer with stage fright, eager to break into Hollywood. Born in 1946, the El Centro, Californianative was raised primarily by her mother Georgia Holt, a model and actor. Chers early life was marked by poverty and abuse, but those hardships didnt prevent her from finding stardom in the 1960s when she, alongside her husband-slash-manager Salvatore Sonny Bono, rose to prominence as the legendary musical duo Sonny & Cher. In the years that followed, Cher struck out on her own as a soloist, churning out number-one hits like Believe and If I Could Turn Back Time before taking on big-screen roles that would land her two Oscar nominations and one win.In her 2024 tell-all, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, the performer details her tumultuous upbringing, the beginnings of her prolific career, and her leap into acting. Throughout all her time in the spotlight, shes built an expansive real estate portfolio in the Golden State. For Cher, each property is an opportunity to showcase her mastery of total reinvention, and her philosophy as an artist carries over into her interiors tastes, where she intentionally makes no two properties the same. I dont know where people go to get that rule, Thou shalt be one thing and one thing only for thy entire life, she told AD in 1989. To tide you over until Cher: The Memoir, Part Two drops this November, we rounded up some snapshots of the stars life away from the spotlight in the 60s and 70s.Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images1/15Humble beginnings in EncinoCher, pictured here at age 19 in this 1966 photo, is seen posing next to Bono outside of their Los Angeles home. They purchased the single-level, flat-roof home in the LA neighborhood of Encino. The pair initially met at a coffee shop and later moved in with each otherwith Cher as a housekeeper in Bonos one-bedroom Hollywood Hills padbefore becoming a couple. In 1964, they had an unofficial wedding ceremony in Tijuana, Mexico, though they wouldnt legally tie the knot until five years later.Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images2/15The rise of Sonny & CherCher and Bono first achieved commercial success as the musical duo Sonny & Cher thanks to their 1965 hit I Got You Babe, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and was later dubbed one of the greatest songs of all time by Rolling Stone. Bono reportedly drew inspiration from their homes San Fernando Valley view to write what would become some of the duos biggest hits, including The Beat Goes On and Its the Little Things. The latter track was featured in their 1967 movie Good Times, which included scenes filmed at the home itself.Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images3/15Nouveau riche lifeCher and Bono were frequently bombarded by fans at their Encino residence, as shown in this image of the two signing autographs. In her 1998 memoir The First Time, she admitted that their careers around this time were far from glamorous. (As Bono put it in a 1995 episode of Rock & Roll In the Groove, once the duos initial success plateaued, their situation became funny in a sad way.) We were famous but had no money. I guess we were trying to appear established. We were nouveau riche, but better nouveau than never, Cher later wrote in The First Time.Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images4/15Encino livingCher and Bono are photographed here posing on the balcony of their Encino home. The 3,250-square-foot property boasted three bedrooms and an outdoor pool. Chers eclectic style was woven throughout the homes decor choices, from shag carpeting to elaborate fringe curtains in the dining room. The couple were also neighbors to a handful of celebrities, including game show host Dennis James, singer Bobby Sherman, and Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. of the Fifth Dimension. The home was most recently purchasedand renovatedsometime in the early 2000s by architect Kenneth David Lee.Photo: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images5/15S and CPictured here are Cher and Bono sitting atop the balcony railings of their home, with Bono holding onto a guitar and a sweeping waterfront view behind them. To this day, a section of wrought iron fencing in the backyard of their former Encino home is reportedly still etched with the monogram of the duo, S and C.Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images6/15A fresh startSonny and I looked at each other: We were already sold, Cher said in The First Time of touring the Moorish-style mansion at which shes shown here in 1968. When we got back to the car, I just said, Son. And he said, I know. All right. Well swing this. The pair moved in a few weeks later, after buying the Bel-Air home for $250,000 from actor Tony Curtis. The 34-room property on Cloud Road boasted luxury amenities including a wood-paneled library and an outdoor swimming pool. Around the time of the purchase, Sonny and Cher were dropped from their recording contract with Atco Records. Cher released her album Backstage this same year, and then, in 1969, she put out 3614 Jackson Highwaythe address of Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, where the album was recordedwithout the supervision of Bono. Despite the budding success of her solo career, Bono prevented Cher, then 21 years old, from releasing more solo music with the label.Photo: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images7/15Firstborn in Bel-AirThough their relationship was unraveling at this time, the couple married not long after Cher gave birth to their first and only child together, Chaz Bono, in 1969. Looking back, I wonder where the hell Sonny went the first night I came home with our baby, but at the time I was too tired and weak to even think, she wrote in Cher: The Memoir, Part One. She details the struggle of being alone in the house with her newborn, where she lost consciousness on the bathroom floor due to a hemorrhage. Despite his not being there, I have to say that Sonny was supportive and concerned, maybe out of guilt for wherever the hell hed been at a time when I so needed him.Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images8/15A blessing in disguiseCher lounges on a yellow paisley sofa in this 1968 image, captured a year before the singer starred in Chastity, a film written and produced by Bono about a young woman searching for the meaning of life. The duo reportedly mortgaged one of their homes and spent $500,000 to make the 1969 film, which tanked commercially and resulted in $190,000 of debt and back taxes. Despite its financial failure, multiple critics took note of Chers acting potential in the role.Photo: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media via Getty Images9/15The Sonny & Cher Comedy HourSonny and Cher reached a low point in the late 60s. The couple performed at nightclubs in hopes of reviving their careers with a new adult sound. Instead, their revamp resulted in heckling from the audienceand in turn, Cher would snark back. That back-and-forth dynamic became the duos main attraction in future performances and eventually landed them their own variety show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, which debuted in 1971 on CBS. The production often included scenes shot in the duos own mansion and quickly became a success, garnering over 30 million viewers in its three-year run.Photo: CBS via Getty Images10/15Owlwood EstateAmid the shows success, Curtis, who was relocating to London at the time, offered Cher and Bono yet another one of his Los Angelesarea homes: the Owlwood Estate in Holmby Hills. In 1974, the duo purchased the property for $750,000. The house was originally built by architect Robert D. Farquhar in 1936 and featured nine bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, an elevator, and an elaborate spiral staircase. The 12,200-square-feet property would become the pairs most extravagant home.Photo: Fairchild Archive/Penske Media via Getty Images11/15Life together, separatedHere, Cher and Bono are photographed in their Italian Renaissancestyle home for Womens Wear Daily. The couple divorced in 1974, but it was reported that they remained in the sprawling pad together for a time due to threats from CBS to cancel their show if either of them moved out. They allegedly lived on separate ends of the house with their child, as well as Chers beau at the time, her guitarist Bill Hamm, and Sonnys girlfriend, socialite Connie Foreman. In 1975, Cher took full ownership of the mansion in their divorce settlement.Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images12/15A new eraBy 1977, Cher had catapulted into solo superstardom, with hits like Dark Lady and a Golden Globe under her belt for best actress in The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. Four days after finalizing her divorce with Bono, she married Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers Band, whos pictured here in repose with the singer. Her first date with Allman was one of the worst nights of [her] dating life, she writes in Cher: The Memoir, Part One. When Gregory tried to kiss me, I told him to stop. Whoa, dude, I said. You know what, why dont you just take me home?Photo: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images13/15The Egyptian fortressDespite Allmans struggles with substance abuse, the two forged on with their relationship and would eventually welcome a child, Elijiah Blue Allman. Above, Cher is seen holding Elijiah at her Beverly Hills home, also known as the Egyptian fortressa moniker inspired by Chers grand and gilded decor.Photo: Michael Montfort/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images14/15Beverly Hills dwellingCher is seen kicking back here in her Beverly Hills pad, a 20,000-square-foot house complete with brick accent walls and wood-beamed ceilings. The property was also equipped with a 7,000-square-foot Moroccan-style guesthouse, five stables, two riding rings, and a tennis court. That was the only house I ever had any real emotional ties to, Cher told AD in 1992. The singer later sold the estate to Eddie Murphy for an unknown amount in the 80s.Photo: Harry Benson15/15An AD-featured abodeMy houses are [my] passions, Cher said in her 2010 cover story with AD. The pop phenomenon has credited her longtime friend, interior designer Martyn Lawrence-Bullard, for helping her bring her eclectic interior visions to life over the years. Here, she sits in her Los Angeles home: a two-floor, 4,000-square-foot mansion with a neutral palette and recurring nods to Buddhist aesthetics. The singer told AD that she scrapped the houses original 12 rooms in favor of a more open, loft-like space. I always wanted an apartment that was one big bedroom because thats really where I live, starting from the days when Sonny and I could only afford a bedroom, she said. She parted ways with the home in 2020.