Winning both an Oscar and a Grammy during six decades in the spotlight, Cher, who turned 75 on May 19, has certainly fulfilled her childhood ambition of being 'grown up and famous'. Getty Images
Winning both an Oscar and a Grammy during six decades in the spotlight, Cher, who turned 75 on May 19, has certainly fulfilled her childhood ambition of being 'grown up and famous'. Getty Images
Winning both an Oscar and a Grammy during six decades in the spotlight, Cher, who turned 75 on May 19, has certainly fulfilled her childhood ambition of being 'grown up and famous'. Getty Images
Winning both an Oscar and a Grammy during six decades in the spotlight, Cher, who turned 75 on May 19, has certainly fulfilled her childhood ambition of being 'grown up and famous'. Getty Images

Five moments we hope will make it into new Cher biopic: From dating Tom Cruise to inspiring the Met Gala


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Following in the footsteps of recent music biopics such as Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody, Cher is the latest star whose life will be given the big-screen treatment.

The singer and actress, who turned 75 on Wednesday, took to Twitter to reveal that Eric Roth, the Oscar-winning screenwriter behind Forrest Gump and A Star is Born will be writing the film that will focus on her colourful life and decades-long career.

The film is being produced by the team behind Mamma Mia!, in which Cher starred as Ruby Sheridan, the mother of Meryl Streep's character, Donna.

Having declared from the time she was in high school “I was always thinking about when I was grown up and famous”, the performer has seen her career enjoy skyscraper highs and fall to basement lows.

She's been married twice, surviving a controlling marriage to her singing partner and manager, Sonny Bono; Oscar-nominated twice, in 1984 for Best Supporting Actress for Silkwood, and again in 1988 for Moonstruck, for which she walked away with the Best Actress statuette. She was also almost one of the leads in Thelma & Louise.

Surprisingly, for a music career spanning 59 years and counting, she has only one Grammy, for the 2000 dance smash Believe.

The mother-of-two has reinvented her career over and over again, selling perfumes, dolls and fitness videos, and starring in infomercials, in a way which was derided in the 1980s and 1990s, but which nowadays would be lauded for the hustle.

She’s embarked on record-breaking tours and is the only artist to have had Billboard number ones in six consecutive decades, from the 1960s to 2010s.

In 1976, her Cher doll surpassed Barbie to become the highest-selling doll of the year, and her 1987 fragrance named Uninhibited raked in more than $15 million in its first year. In short, she was being a multi-hyphenate long before Paris, Kim, Selena, Jessica et al were even born.

From folk pop to disco, her music career has been as varied as her movie roles, and at 75 she's a prolific tweeter, with even her most mundane updates, such as, "have to take shower" garnering 17,000 likes.

One of those rarefied stars who are known by just one name, here are five moments from Cher’s life we hope are included in the film …

1. Winning the Oscar for 'Moonstruck'

Five years after she recalled seeing audiences snigger when her name appeared in the credits for the 1983 film Silkwood, Cher was to have the last laugh. Beating the likes of Meryl Streep and Glenn Close, she scooped the Best Actress Oscar for Moonstruck, in which she played a widow in love with her fiance's younger brother.

Losing a long dangly earring on her walk to the podium, her embellished Bob Mackie dress has achieved fashion legend status over the years.

“I don’t think that this means I am somebody,” she said of the win, “but I guess it means I’m on my way.”

2. Dating Tom Cruise

Cher dated Tom Cruise back in 1985 after they met at Madonna and Sean Penn's wedding. Shutterstock
Cher dated Tom Cruise back in 1985 after they met at Madonna and Sean Penn's wedding. Shutterstock

Cher dated Tom Cruise, who was 16 years her junior, back in 1985 when he was 23 and she was 38. The pair first met at Madonna and Sean Penn's wedding in Malibu, but it wasn't until their next meeting at the White House when they really connected.

"A bunch of people who were dyslexic were invited to the White House, and Tom and I are both dyslexic," she told Event of the gathering at the Reagan-era White House. "We didn't go out until way later, but there definitely was a connection there." She later told Oprah Winfrey they might have enjoyed a "great big romance" had their busy schedules not kept them apart.

3. Creating the modern-day Met Gala

Cher's 1974 Met Gala look was credited by 'Vogue' magazine's Andre Leon Talley with 'changing everything' about the famous fashion event. Getty Images
Cher's 1974 Met Gala look was credited by 'Vogue' magazine's Andre Leon Talley with 'changing everything' about the famous fashion event. Getty Images

The Met Gala wasn't always the star-packed, must-attend event on the A-list calendar that it is today.

Although Vogue editor Anna Wintour has been rightly credited with turning it from a dowdy fundraiser into the spectacular it is now, fashion insiders point to Cher herself for reinvigorating the event many years before.

Wearing a nude-coloured, feathered gown to the Gala in 1974 (she would don it again the following year for the cover of Time), former Vogue editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley said of Cher's fashion moment: "It was really the first time a Hollywood celebrity attended, and it changed everything. We are still seeing versions of that look on the Met red carpet 40 years later." Indeed, Kim Kardashian would pay homage in 2015.

4. Clashing with David Letterman on his talk show

Cher and US talk show host David Letterman clashed during an interview in 1986 in what became one of television's most talked-about moments. Courtesy CBS
Cher and US talk show host David Letterman clashed during an interview in 1986 in what became one of television's most talked-about moments. Courtesy CBS

As someone who isn’t afraid of a little confrontation, storming out of interviews has never been Cher’s style, which is how her now-infamous 1986 interview with US talk show host David Letterman came about.

Arms folded and leaning away from the host, who tries desperately to charm her, Letterman asks “Why?” when she tells him, “I never thought that I would want to do this show with you".

Her answer has become the stuff of legend and, as Rolling Stone's Andy Greene points out: "Had YouTube existed back then, this would have gone insanely viral."

5. Her relationship with husband and manager Sonny Bono

Cher's marriage to her manager and co-performer Sonny Bono was famously tumultuous and controlling. Reuters
Cher's marriage to her manager and co-performer Sonny Bono was famously tumultuous and controlling. Reuters

While the chameleonic Cher has never been defined in terms of the men in her life, there’s no denying the impact her relationship with and marriage to Sonny Bono had on her life and career.

After Cher started out as his housekeeper, he was the one who launched her career by introducing her to producer Phil Spector. The pair married in 1969, and she later told Parade magazine: "He didn't want me to grow up or have any freedom. I wasn't allowed to do anything except work. We worked more than we lived."

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bundesliga results

Mainz 0 Augsburg 1 (Niederlechner 1')

Schalke 1 (Caligiuri pen 51') Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Miranda og 81')

The specs: 2018 Maserati GranTurismo/GranCabrio

Price, base Dh485,000 (GranTurismo) and Dh575,000 (GranCabrio)

Engine 4.7L V8

Transmission Six-speed automatic

Power 460hp @ 7,000rpm

Torque 520Nm @ 4,750rpm

Fuel economy, combined 14.3L (GranTurismo) and 14.5L (GranCabrio) / 100km

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20NOTHING%20PHONE%20(2)
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Tips for job-seekers
  • Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
  • Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.

David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East

From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

Classification from Tour de France after Stage 17

1. Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky) 73:27:26"

2. Rigoberto Uran (Colombia / Cannondale-Drapac) 27"

3. Romain Bardet (France / AG2R La Mondiale)

4. Fabio Aru (Italy / Astana Pro Team) 53"

5. Mikel Landa (Spain / Team Sky) 1:24"

Milestones on the road to union

1970

October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar. 

December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.

1971

March 1:  Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.

July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.

July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.

August 6:  The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.

August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.

September 3: Qatar becomes independent.

November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.

November 29:  At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.

November 30: Despite  a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa. 

November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties

December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.

December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.

The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre turbo

Power: 181hp

Torque: 230Nm

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

Starting price: Dh79,000

On sale: Now