Chaz Bono
Trivia:
Son of Sonny Bono and Cher.
Born:
Chastity Sun Bono
March 4, 1969 in Los Angeles, California, USA
Biography
Chaz Salvatore Bono (born Chastity Sun Bono; March 4, 1969) is an American LGBT rights advocate, writer, actor, and musician. Bono is the only child of American entertainers Sonny and Cher, though both have children from other marriages. In the early 1990s, Bono was occasionally outed as lesbian by the tabloid press, then publicly self-identified as such in a 1995 cover interview in The Advocate. The process of coming out to oneself and to others was a central topic in Bono's two books: Family Outing: A Guide to the Coming Out Process for Gays, Lesbians, and Their Families (1998) tells of the author's coming out, as well as stories of other gay and lesbian people; the memoir The End of Innocence (2003) discusses the author's outing, music career, and partner Joan's death from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. In middle age, Bono underwent female-to-male gender transition.
In mid-2008, Bono began undergoing a physical and social gender transition from female to male. This was confirmed in June 2009 by his publicist, who identified Bono's preferred name as Chaz Bono and said, "It is Chaz's hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his coming out did." GLAAD and the Empowering Spirits Foundation were quick to offer praise and support for the announcement. Bono's legal transition was completed on May 7, 2010, when a California court granted his request for a gender and name change. Bono made a documentary film about his sex change that premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network acquired the rights to the documentary and will debut it later in 2011.
"I've hated my body since puberty," Chaz Bono announces to the camera."Becoming Chaz" is a new documentary about how Chastity Bono -- the towheaded darling who used to blow kisses to the audience during "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" in the 1970s -- "transitions" into Chaz, a Michael Chiklis-shaped dude with back hair and sideburns."It wasn't a sudden decision," Bono says in the interview. "I've been doing therapy for a long time. It's a long process going back almost a decade. I got clean and sober in 2004 and I couldn't have done this before that."“Obviously the transgender movement has not progressed in the way that the gay and lesbian movement has. But I’m an activist — that’s just the kind of person I am.” He adds, "I always felt like the male from the time I was a child. There wasn't much feminine about me. I believe that gender is something between your ears not between your legs. That is something I discovered in the early 90's. It was just a long process of being comfortable enough to do something about it. I was turning 40 and I thought it's now or never. I want to still feel vibrant and be able to enjoy my life in a male body and not wait until I am an old man." A friend of Cher is quoted saying, "Cher and 10 of her and Chaz's friends stood up and cheered when it was over,""I feel so much more comfortable that I've ever been," Bono told "Good Morning America" in an exclusive interview. "I've felt male as far back as I can remember.""Knowing that it was going to end up being covered by the media, he made the decision that he wanted to document it," says Barbato by phone from his Los Angeles office. "And he came to us and asked us if we'd be interested, and we said yes -- immediately." "Then it came down to realizing that I have to live my life for myself," he said, "and that life is short and life is precious."As you get older it's more confusing," she said. "Suddenly, there's more pressure to fit in to your assigned gender.""I'm just a little more focused on the 'T' now then I am on the 'L' and the 'G,'" he said. “My hope is that by allowing people to do that, they’re going to see that I’m just kind of a regular guy,” he said. “And that being transgender and transitioning isn’t the craziest thing in the world.”