Cher Spent $1 Million in Legal Fees Fighting Sonny Bono’s Widow—Her Iconic Malibu Home Is Worth 85 Times That

Singing sensation Cher will be forced to pay the $1 million in legal fees that she incurred during a bitter legal battle against ex-husband Sonny Bono's widow, Mary Bono, a judge has ruled. The 80-year-old pop icon, whose real name is Cheryl Sarkisian, launched a lawsuit against former California Rep. Bono in 2021, alleging that royalties from the songs that she and her ex-spouse had recorded together during their marriage were being withheld form her. She sought $1 million in damages from Bono, accusing her of trying to use "wholly inapplicable statutory termination provision of the Copyright Act of 1976" in order to terminate Cher's rights to hits like "I Got You Babe" and "The Beat Goes On." In May 2024, a judge ruled that Cher was owed more than $418,000 in unpaid royalties, according to People magazine—however, that did not bring an end to the legal dispute. In January of this year, the songstress filed a request asking that Bono be made to pay the $1,023,605.30 in legal fees that she had incurred during the battle.Now, that request has been denied, meaning that Cher will be forced to cover those costs herself. Cher and Sonny were together for more than a decade, tying the kno...