Cher has opened up about her one-time relationship with actor Val Kilmer.
The stars dated in the 1980s, where the pair raised many eyebrows as Cher was 13 years older than Kilmer.
The “If I Could Turn Back Time” singer told People Magazine that she and the Top Gun actor called themselves Sid and Ethel.
“Val didn’t want to yell ‘Cher’ and I didn’t want to yell ‘Val,’” Cher said. “We also called ourselves Valus Maximus and Cherus Reprimandus. It was just kind of who I was in the household. Of course he was Maximus, come on.”
The duo met at a birthday party that a common friend threw for Cher.
“We became friends because we laughed at the same things constantly,” she said. “He would sleep over and it was just a friendship (at first). That took a long time. Well, I guess not really a long time.”
The singer was aware of Kilmer’s young age but she didn’t care about it.
“He was so young. Was he 22? What was I? I don’t know. Thirty-something. It was a bigger deal back then,” she said. “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.”
Cher additionally revealed that she and Kilmer both had extremely strong personalities, which could cause conflict.
“We had unbelievable times and then put up with some times when they weren’t [that way] because we were both alpha males,” she said. “We were both individuals and neither of us was going to give up on that.”
Kilmer and Cher split in 1984, but have remained friends following their separation.
Kilmer’s new documentary Val debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in July and was released on Amazon Prime in the US earlier this month.
The film shows 40 years of never-before-seen footage chronicling the life of the actor.
