Chaz Bono

Chaz Bono

Chaz Salvatore Bono is an American writer, musician and actor. His parents are entertainers Sonny Bono and Cher. He became widely known in appearances as a child on their television show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. In May 2010, he legally changed his gender and name to Chaz.

About Chaz Bono in brief

Summary Chaz BonoChaz Salvatore Bono is an American writer, musician and actor. His parents are entertainers Sonny Bono and Cher, and he became widely known in appearances as a child on their television show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. In 1995, while then identifying as a woman, and several years after being outed as lesbian by the tabloid press, Bono publicly self-identified as a lesbian in a cover story in a leading American gay monthly magazine, The Advocate. Bono eventually went on to discuss the process of coming out to oneself and others in two books. In May 2010, he legally changed his gender and name to Chaz. A documentary on Bono’s experience, Becoming Chaz, was screened at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and later made its television debut on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

The memoir The End of Innocence discusses his outing, music career, and partner Joan’s death from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In January 1998 Bono worked as a social activist for the Human Rights Campaign, promoting National Coming Out Day for the National Human Rights Day. Cher has become an outspoken LGBT rights activist since Sonny’s fatal skiing accident in January 1998. The two had not spoken for more than a year at the time of Sonny’s death.