Chastity Bono's Memoir

As the daughter of pop duo Sonny and Cher, Chastity Bono has lived most of her life in the public eye, but it is a relationship in her private life that is at the heart of her new book "The End of Innocence." Bono visits The Early Show Tuesday to discuss the memoir.

"The End of Innocence" details Bono's life from 1988 to 1993. During this time, she struggles with her music career, begins a love affair with her mother's friend, Joan Stephens, and becomes Stephens' caretaker throughout the older woman's illness, until her death from non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Bono intended the book to be a tribute to Stephens, who was significantly older than Bono. She had known Stephens all her life, but did not begin their sexual relationship until she was in her 20s. Bono says Stephens played a very important role in her life.

Bono admits that it was intense to go back and look at that time in detail because it was much more difficult than she had remembered. Her band had just fallen apart and she was at a bedside, watching her lover die, administering shots, learning about radiation treatments and keeping a brave face through it all.

Devastated by the loss of Stephens, Bono says she started to engage in self-destructive behavior, but with the help of family and friends learned to piece her life back together again. She began working for GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and to write.

Bono's previous book "Family Outing" chronicled her coming out as a lesbian.

Bono says she is already thinking about her next book, which will likely pick up where this one left off. She also would like to get "The End of Innocence" made into a film. In addition, she is developing an idea for a series of children's books.

Read an exerpt from "The End of Innocence"

The woman who had always encouraged me to do things for myself had turned into a sickly, terrified, insecure, completely dependent person. I was still in love with her, no question about that, but after the (treatment) I talked to Rachel about whether I'd ever be able to forget what Joan and I had gone through. I had so many dark and difficult images of Joan in my mind -- Joan with sores everywhere, urinating and defecating on herself, acting crazy. Would I be able to get past these memories after she was well? I didn't know whether she'd ever be able to return to the full-of-life person she was, and if she did, I wasn't sure I'd be able to think of her in the same way I had.

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