Cher has notoriously dated some of the most famous men in Hollywood and the music industry, with a roster that includes names such as Tom Cruise, Warren Beatty, Gregg Allman, and Richie Sambora. However, the 78-year-old recently revealed that Val Kilmer was the only man to ever break her heart.
The "Believe" singer made the admission during an appearance on Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show this week, when asked whether men "expect fabulous sex" when they're with her. "Yes, and they get it," she said, not without a hint of swagger.
When asked "how she knows" that her lovers leave satisfied, Cher said with a laugh: "Because you can tell by their reaction." Clearly impressed, Stern exclaimed, "It's a great reaction!" adding, "Who would ever leave you?!"
“Few men, few men. A couple. Look, I was madly in love with Val Kilmer and he left," she revealed.
"Why would he leave?" Stern asked incredulously. "He's having fabulous sex with one of the most beautiful women in the world, what the f--k's the problem with this guy?" However, Cher suggested that their age gap was a factor in the breakup.
"Sometimes you're only meant to stay with someone so long, and Val was like—he was really young," she confessed.
Indeed, the pair began dating in 1982, when Cher was 36 and Kilmer was just 23. But just two years later they split in 1984 when the actor's career was beginning to take off with his first onscreen role in the action comedy Top Secret! Then in 1986, he starred in Top Gun and the rest is history.
Cher previously opened up about her relationship with Kilmer to People in 2021, and noted then that their 13-year age gap was a big deal at the time.
"He was so young. Was he 22? What was I? I don't know. Thirty something," she revealed. "It was a bigger deal back then. The truth was if I hadn't gone out with younger men, I would have never had a date. Younger men weren't intimidated by older women. But older men in my age category, they weren't having it."
Though, Cher also made it clear that there were no hard feelings over the decades-old heartbreak, and even admitted that they were still friends four decades later. "I don't know how we stayed friends, we just did. We didn't try. We just were," she added.
