From Chastity to Chaz: Bono Speaks Out

The Man Who Used to be the Daughter of Sonny and Cher Gives His First Interview to "ET's" Mary Hart

(CBS)  In June, Chastity Bono, daughter of entertainers Sonny and Cher, shocked the entertainment world by announcing that she was becoming a he.

Now, in his first interview, Chaz Bono, as he now calls himself, speaks to "Entertainment Tonight's" Mary Hart about his transformation, his famous family and the struggle he's gone through since childhood.

"I have to tell you that I was really quite moved with my time with Chaz. His honesty, thoughtfulness and warmth not only impressed me, but it helped me understand this very serious choice he's made," Hart told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

According to Bono, the most difficult step he had to take was, "finding the courage not to worry about what other people would think of me so much."

America first met Bono on "The Sonny and Cher Show" as an adorable, little blonde girl with pig tails.

Now 40 years old, and almost 15 years since coming out as gay, he is beginning to live life as he wanted to for a long time, as a man. He says the complete transformation will take four or five years and involves surgery and hormone therapy.

Along with a gender reassignment surgery comes facial hair.

"I shave about once a week now," Bono told Hart. "So it's not, certainly not thick. It kind of started to come in like peach fuzz," which he said was a thrill to experience.

The hormones have dramatically changed Bono's voice, which was a slight adjustment for him.

"It does it in stages, so, no. I'm literally going through puberty," he said.

Bono is currently creating a book and a documentary chronicling his journey into manhood.

The surgical process started already for Bono.

"It has. As a matter of fact, Chaz just recently underwent cosmetic surgery to have his breasts removed," Hart explained. "And I asked him about if it was difficult. He said, no, actually it was a relief."

Interestingly, Bono's changed voice sounds a lot like his father, Sonny, commented Smith.

"You know, Harry, you're absolutely right. There is a similarity," Hart added. "Chaz did tell me, however, that this process is a four- to five-year process and he thinks his voice will get increasingly deep.

"So, you know, the whole experience has been remarkable for him and the one thing he did tell me is that he said, 'you know, my outsides are finally beginning to match my insides.' I mean, he said 'I feel more like myself than I ever have felt.'"

[barbaram99]

toldyouso21..Yer right dear lady. I I know yer a highly educated going by yers I have read. Yet I am sure Mr Bono is aware of the wt issue. Some meds and health issues cause some to be over wt. I could not gain over 100 lbs until I went thru menopause. I very littlr and my wt is now 150. I am legally blind with C/P caused by the Dr at birth. I am 55. Mr Bone still has mannerisms of a female. I have met trans wowomen and 2 trans men..I go by a person's voice. Their voice tells me their gender as a rule. I hsd to learn tones in the voice.
I went on the net to see what the transgendered have to do to change their body. Sorry the female to male operation made me sick when I saw what they have to do. It is barbaric. Mr Bono has to know that he can't change his mind as once it is done. He will have to live with it. I could never do it. Us ladies are XX and the gents are XY. Thansgendered are what they were given at birth. They can't change XX in to XY in the case of the person at the centre of thid article. i am fully female. I do noy understand why a lady would would want to become a man. I just don't.

[hmmIwonder]

If I were born a starving little person somewhere in Africa, I wouldn't have any of these worries.

[armyoftwelve]

Hee-hee. You got that right. How do you spell freak???????

[duskay13]

I have a question.

What happens now, lets say Chasity had a lady lover, does that lover now leave Chaz because now she is a he and she (the lover) wants to be with a woman? Does that make sense.

[stryker54]

sick puppy

[toldyouso21]

genetically, "he" will always be a "she". Science has not yet learned how to manipulate life on a molecular level to that point yet. On the other hand, now that Chastity has taken the first steps to becoming "Chaz" maybe she can head to the gym and drop a lot of weight, it would be a shame to learn that after all of this and 5 years later, he/she/it is still unhappy because whether science recreates him/her /it on the outside, that whatever ails him on the inside still exists. With obesity, the saying goes: "It's not what you are eating, it's what's eating you". Good luck Chaz--hope this is part of what you were really seeking, but if not--get rid of the excess fat, underneath you may find that a lot of your unhappiness was not gender related so much as body related.

[saturn05]

You are way off base. If Chaz has all of the proper surgery, he can have his gender changed to a male. And you are being so disrespectful of the weight issue. You don't think a person knows the difference between gender issues and depression over weight issues? By virtue of your arguement, I believe you are an ignorant moron by the comment you left, thus cut the fat from your small brain and maybe some actual gray cells well help you be a better person.

[denise_1900]

You're able to alter the outside, but you can't alter the inside. She was born a female; she had surgery to give her the outward appearance of a male.

Regardless of what she looks like on the outside, she will still be a female (XX) and never an 'XY'; her genetic material, chromosomes, DNA, remains the same.

[cidaia]

Is sex truly something within our control? Most of the ones who are most determined to believe so are clearly people with anger issues and dissatisfaction. They're angry at their own and/or the other sex, dissatisfied with their own bodies, their own identities, and often their own lives.

And of course if you say anything at all about the fact that most people really do find pleasure in being what they really are, they often just blow up. It ought to be a choice - we ought to get to choose anything and everything about who and what we are! So maybe by just getting angry enough, the laws of reality will change....

Too much focus on what's wrong with the world, and precious little counting of blessings, makes for some really unhappy people.

For some reason, this person believes she cannot be happy as a female, and must identify as a male. The problem is, she's not really male. She has to pretend. She will have to surround herself with people willing to believe what she needs them to believe - that one's sex is a choice. But the evidence is increasingly becoming clear: differences between the sexes are real. There is more to real masculinity than absence of female traits.

But I suppose we're not supposed to talk about any of this, because we might make someone FEEL bad. And who cares about what's real or what's true, if it might make someone FEEL bad?

[lyndar2]

My heart goes out to Chaz! What kind of pressure growing up having gorgeous body Cher for a Mom and a name like Chastity. Hope he lives out his life in happiness.

[AttentionDeficit]

lyndar: i suppose she could have realized that Cher's gorgeous body likely had medical help getting there

[lyndar2]

My heart goes out to Chaz! What kind of pressure growing up having gorgeous body Cher for a Mom and a name like Chastity. Hope he lives out his life in happiness.

[USMC-Mom]

Not the kind of man I would go out with.

[isabel36-2009]

The real question is: Is she a lesbian in a man's 'clothing' or a woman trying to be a man and likes women?

[denise_1900]

A woman that looks similar to a man that likes women. My point of view she is a manly-looking lesbian.

[california64]

glad that sonny didn't live to see this...

[rondivoo]

whatever...

[taxchurches]

No deep-down to it; gender is determined in the chromosomes, and no matter what freakish surgery she udergoes, that will not be altered. So instead of a dykey woman, she now looks like a ***** man. What she needs isn't a sex change; she needs to lose 70 pounds, and grow up.

[Surelyoujest]

Well, I gotta admit she makes for a better looking man than she did a woman.


But, deep down she's still a girl.

[56jan]

Gay / Lesbo whatever!!!! I think she was very selfish to not even give her mother (Cher) a grandchild. t could have been a "real" male to carry on Bono"s name!!!!!!!!!!