When you think of Cher, it’s hard not to remember her rocky relationship with Sonny Bono. Together, they had one child: Chaz Bono, who was born as Chastity Bono on March 4, 1969. From the moment Chaz was born, being the child of famous parents put him in the spotlight, and it wasn’t long before TV audiences got to know him.

Chaz was named after the movie Chastity, which was produced by Sonny Bono and starred Cher as a young, bisexual hippie runaway. Interestingly, Chaz was conceived during the making of this film.

As a kid, Chaz made frequent appearances on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. He would usually pop up at the end of each episode when Sonny and Cher sang their hit song “I Got You Babe.” This made Chaz a familiar face in American households.

However, despite his smiling face on TV, few people knew what Chaz was struggling with at home and school. From a young age, Chaz felt out of place among other girls and couldn’t relate to their interests.

“I’d look at other girls my age and feel perplexed by their interest in fashion or which boy was the cutest,” Chaz shared with Daily Mail in 2011. At 18, Chaz came out as a lesbian to both of his parents.

Chaz explained in his book Family Outing: A Guide to the Coming Out Process for Gays, Lesbians, and Their Families, “…as a child, I always felt there was something different about me. I’d look at other girls my age and feel perplexed by their obvious interest in the latest fashion, which boy in class was the cutest, and who looked the most like cover girl Christie Brinkley. When I was 13, I finally found a name for exactly how I was different. I realized I was gay.”

For Cher, who would later become an icon in the LGBTQ community, it wasn’t easy to accept her daughter’s coming out. “When I found out Chaz was gay, I didn’t go through it that easily,” Cher admitted in an interview with PrideSource. But according to Chaz, her reaction was even stronger than that—he said his mom actually “went ballistic” when he first came out to her.

Years later, at the age of 39, Chaz began transitioning to the male gender. This news shocked his mother once again. “When I found out Chaz was [transitioning]… we talked about it a lot, actually. But then Chaz didn’t mention it anymore, so I kind of forgot,” Cher explained. “And what I think is, there’s such a fear of losing the child you love, and what will replace that child.”

Cher went on, saying, “I think it’s about the fear, mostly. I felt, who will this new person be? Because I know who the person is now, but who will the new person be and how will it work and will I have lost somebody?”

In 2010, Chaz officially became a man when a California court granted his request for a gender and name change. This journey was documented in Becoming Chaz, a documentary that was shown at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Viewers got a firsthand look at Chaz’s transition and the emotional moments that came with it.

“My mother went through a kind of mourning period. It was difficult for her, and we didn’t see each other for about the first year of my transition,” Chaz told SBS Australia. One of the most emotional scenes in the documentary was when Cher heard Chaz’s new voice for the first time, altered by hormone therapy. “I was hysterical when I heard her voice on her answering machine. It was her old voice,” Cher said. “I remember saying, ‘Is there any way I can save it?’ But it was gone. I’ll never hear it again.”

After the documentary, Chaz continued to make a name for himself in Hollywood. In 2011, he made history as the first transgender man to compete on Dancing with the Stars. It was a groundbreaking moment, as it was the first time a transgender man appeared on a major network television show for something unrelated to being transgender.

Five years later, Chaz appeared in five episodes of American Horror Story: Roanoke and played Reverend Rydale on The Bold and the Beautiful.

For many years, Chaz struggled with obesity and didn’t feel comfortable in his own body. However, his journey to a healthier lifestyle began when he started his gender transition. “I would have never been able to do it before,” Chaz told Oprah Winfrey. “I was too disconnected from my body… the dysphoria I had with my body was too much to be able to have cared enough about to do anything like that.”

When Chaz joined Dancing With The Stars, he weighed 250 pounds. The intense competition and rigorous training helped him shed weight quickly. After the show, Chaz kept up his healthy lifestyle, and today, he’s far from the unhealthy weight he carried ten years ago.

But the weight loss journey wasn’t without its challenges. Chaz struggled with excess sagging skin, which often happens when someone loses a significant amount of weight. “It’s not fun, but it was worth it because I look better now. I’ve cut out, you know, 99 percent of grains from my diet. I pretty much eat vegetables, meat, fruit, nuts… My birthday is the one day of the year I’ll do cake,” Chaz shared with Extra TV.

Cher has been incredibly proud of her son’s determination and courage. “He did it all by himself. He made up his own mind and he did it. And it was like what—85, 90 pounds. Wow! … I don’t know if I’d have that courage,” Cher said in 2013.

It’s truly wonderful to see how far Chaz has come. He’s been through so much in his life, but today he seems to be in a much better place, having found himself. His journey is an inspiration, and hopefully, it will encourage others who are going through similar experiences. If you agree, feel free to share this story!