Cher Reflects on “Special Arrangement” with David Geffen and Life with a Gay Roommate in Candid Podcast Interview

Cher has opened up about formative periods in her life, including living with a gay roommate as a teenager and her later relationship with then-closeted music executive David Geffen, in a wide-ranging conversation on the Armchair Expert podcast hosted by Dax Shepard and Monica Padman.

The interview, released in early January 2026, revisits Cher’s years before and after she met Sonny Bono and explores how queer people and allies shaped both her personal life and career.

Cher recalled that at age 16 she left her parents’ home in Los Angeles and moved in with a woman who had worked for her mother, describing the woman as gay. She explained that her parents insisted she live with this woman to keep “a rein” on her, only for the pair to celebrate their newfound freedom together once the adults left. Cher recounted that they marked the moment by smoking a cigarette in every room of their new apartment, an image that has since been highlighted by LGBTQ+ outlets as a snapshot of youthful rebellion and queer domesticity.

It was during this time that Cher met Sonny Bono, but she noted that his initial romantic interest was directed toward her gay roommate rather than her. The dynamic formed what some coverage has described as a queer-tinged “love triangle, ” underscoring how closely intertwined Cher’s early life was with LGBTQ+ people even before she became a global icon.

After Cher was eventually kicked out of that apartment, she turned to Sonny Bono, with whom she had already become close. She remembered that Sonny invited her to move in but told her he did not find her particularly attractive and had single beds, positioning their relationship as a friendship long before it became romantic or professional. This period would eventually lead to their marriage and the creation of the duo Sonny & Cher, though the podcast focused more on how the power dynamics in their relationship affected her autonomy.

The interview also revisited Cher’s relationship with David Geffen in the 1970s, when he was not yet publicly out as gay. Cher said the two met at a Christmas party hosted by record producer Lou Adler, and that their relationship felt fundamentally different from her marriage to Sonny Bono.

Cher described Geffen as never having been in love with anyone before their relationship, saying she was the first person for whom he had “real feelings. ” She referred to what they shared as a “special arrangement, ” language that LGBTQ+ commentators have noted reflects the negotiation many queer and questioning people undertake in relationships before coming out publicly.

Beyond their personal connection, Geffen played a decisive role in helping Cher regain control over her business affairs. Drawing from Cher’s own memoir and the podcast discussion, outlets report that Geffen reviewed her contracts and discovered that 100 percent of her earnings were going to a company called Cher Enterprises , which was owned almost entirely by Sonny Bono and his lawyer. Cher said she had been signing documents rushed in front of her just before she went on stage, illustrating how the imbalance of power in their marriage extended into her finances.

According to Cher, Geffen urged her to leave the arrangement, telling her she needed to get out of the deal with Sonny. She confronted Sonny and offered to stay if they could be equal partners, but he refused, leading her to separate herself professionally. Cher has emphasized that she could not have freed herself from that situation without Geffen’s support and says the two remain friends.

LGBTQ+ media outlets have highlighted the interview as another example of Cher’s longstanding ties to queer communities, from sharing a home with a gay woman as a teenager to loving a man who later came out as gay and became one of the most influential openly gay figures in entertainment. For many listeners, her stories underscore how intertwined LGBTQ+ lives and broader pop culture history have been, even in eras when many people felt unable to live openly.