Chastity Bono (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Chastity Sun Bono (born March 4, 1969) is an American actress as well as an activist of the LGBT movement. She is also known as the daughter of entertainers Sonny and Cher and the half sister of musician Elijah Blue Allman.

Family life

Bono is the daughter of pop duo Sonny Bono and Cher. She was named after the title of Cher's first feature film, which had its première shortly before her birth in 1969.

Bono recalls that she was a tomboy as a child, and when she made appearances with her parents on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, she insisted on being dressed to match her father rather than her mother. She first identified herself as a lesbian when she saw the film Personal Best at the age of thirteen. When she came out to her parents, her father was immediately supportive, while her mother went "ballistic for a few days" before beginning to accept the news.

Chastity Bono's relationship with her father, Sonny Bono, became strained after he took office as the Republican Congressman from California. The differences in their political views separated them, and the two had not spoken for more than a year when Bono's father died in a skiing accident in January 1998.

Outing

Bono was outed as lesbian by the Star in January 1990. She was not ready to be out to the world, and denied the tabloid's accusation. In April of 1995, she voluntarily came out in an interview with The Advocate after a series of nonpublished meetings.

Career

Musician

Chastity Bono began her career with a short-lived music career with her band, Ceremony.

Ceremony released one album, Hang Out Your Poetry, in 1993. The band featured Bono on vocals, acoustic guitar, and percussion. Other members were Pete McRae, Chance, Steve Bauman, Louis Ruiz, and Bryn Mathieu. All the songs except one were written or co-written by Bono, Chance, and Mark Hudson. There are no synthesizers or digital effects anywhere on the album.

The song Could've Been Love was released as a single from the album. The album's other tracks are Goodbye Sunshine, Steal Your Heart, Day by Day, Ready for Love, Ready for Love (Refrain), Hang Out Your Poetry, Turn It Over, Trust, 2 of 1, First Day of My Life, Breathless, Living in a Paradise, and Livin' It Up. Sonny & Cher also took a small part in recording the album: the last song includes vocals (uncredited) by Sonny Bono and Cher.

The album was not successful and the band was dropped by their record label (David Geffen's DGC).

Writer and activist

Bono worked as a writer at large for The Advocate, a national gay and lesbian magazine.

Bono became a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, promoting National Coming Out Day, campaigning for the reelection of Bill Clinton for US President and campaigning against the Defense of Marriage Act.

Bono served as Entertainment Media Director for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Bono has written two books. Family Outing: A Guide to the Coming Out Process for Gays, Lesbians, and Their Families tells the story of her own coming out, and also the stories of other gay and lesbian people. The End of Innocence is a memoir which discusses her outing, her music career, and her partner, Joan's, death from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Bono came under fire by the gay community when she made comments about the television show Ellen, starring openly lesbian comedian Ellen DeGeneres. In particular she stated that the show was "too gay." This led to speculation that Bono was a self-loathing lesbian, something she has since vehemently denied. In her memoir Family Outing, Bono surprised many when she revealed that when she told her mother that she was a lesbian, Cher was quite uncomfortable with the news. When she told her father, however, Sonny not only had no problem with it, but he already knew. Cher has since become supportive of her daughter's lesbianism.

Bono was a participant of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club 3. This show is a celebrity fitness show that monitors weight loss. She went to the series after she expressed interest to both lose weight (she weighed 215 pounds (97.5 kg) at the start of the series) and quit smoking. While many felt Bono to be a front runner in at the start of the show, judging by her positive attitude, she lost less than half of her target for the show.

Footnotes

Books

• Family Outing (with Billie Fitzpatrick) (1998) ISBN 0-316-10233-4
• The End of Innocence: A Memoir (with Michele Kort) (2003) ISBN 1-55583-795-6

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