Cher’s Ignoring her age
By Marci Shatzman
I was glad to see Cher plugging her new Christmas album in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. She’s 77, so we’re the same age.
Pushing 80 is a whole different world now, thanks to people like Cher. She’s the only female performer anywhere near her age dropping a new album this year or next. The closest is Sheryl Crow and she’s 61.
Male performers like Bruce Springsteen are still going strong at 74. And Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones just announced their new tour. He’s 80. AARP, the major retiree association, is bankrolling the tour, but like it or not that’s the Stones’ demographic.
Cher was always a rebel and a rule breaker. So, she’s getting lots of pushback about the 40-year age difference with her current boyfriend. But rich men have been trading their wives in for younger women for decades. I don’t have to name names.
I’ve never seen a Cher show in person or considered myself a fan. But I thought she commanded the screen in her 2018 appearance in a “Momma Mia” sequel. And I was sorry she didn’t make even more movies after “Moonstruck” in 1987.
Lifespans are much longer in general, so we shouldn’t be surprised that Cher’s still being Cher. So many people are centenarians now, the newspaper I used to work for stopped covering 100 birthdays in 2018. My last story was an interview with a woman celebrating her 103rd.
So, thank you Cher. The lesson learned for the rest of us, to quote former Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, is “keep on keepin’ on.” As long as we can.
