Cher never settles for less than being herself.
A sense of individuality and commitment to sincerity has carried the singer, 79, throughout her career. The 2026 Grammy Awards honored Cher for her contributions to music, naming her one of the recipients of their 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award.
During an Oct. 2018 interview with PEOPLE, Cher talked about her mom, Georgia Holt, who died in 2022 at 96, whom she credited with helping her become an individual and resilient person, which prepared her for life’s many twists and turns.
“The thing my mom gave me when I was really young was confidence to do what I wanted to do,” she shared.
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Holt’s best advice to her was, “If it doesn’t matter in five years, it doesn’t matter,” which Cher noted, “I really use that as a rule, and it has always served me well.”
Of her journey, Cher shared that she hopes her honesty has helped people realize, “Things are not always gonna be the same—sometimes they’re gonna be much better, sometimes they’re gonna be much worse; you have to go through them the same.”
“People write terrible things, people say I’m talentless … I remember hearing every couple of years, ‘Cher’s on her way out, this is it for her career,’ and then going, ‘This is it for my career.’ I’ve had a strange career of real ups and real downs.”
Asked if its “exhausting to be Cher,” she conceded, “It can get exhausting being Cher, especially when you’re older and you’re still doing the same things.”
“But I still have a great time. To have the stamina, and also to have the audience… You forget that people just do regular jobs that they don’t get applause for,” she noted.
Cher also allows herself boundaries between her private life and public life. She explained, “It’s not a difference in exactly who I am, but it’s a heightened reality. You know, you can’t go around being glamorous Cher all the time.”
“I go around just in my sweatpants. I don’t go around in makeup, I have my hair in a ponytail—I like my off time. I like not being glamorous. I like just being grubby,” she said.”
Another thing that has served Cher well along the journey is her capacity to continue dreaming and adding to her to-do list.
“I always believe that what belongs to you comes to you. It’s not about achieving goals. With success, luck has so much to do with it. I know people who are a lot more talented than I am, who just haven’t been lucky,” she shared.
Retirement is a reality that she wasn’t ready to confront 8 years ago. Now, she seems no closer to slowing down.
“I just don’t know when it’s gonna be. You can’t do it forever. There’s a finite amount of time. That’s the thing that makes life scary and makes things possible—you just don’t know what’s gonna happen.”
