On Being Cher: Motorcycles, Money, Men - And Lunch With Mr. Hawking

I went searching for the Zen of Cher, for the philosophy that has made her a survivor, and now more popular than ever. Let me explain.

I've always admired Cher.

I still like the rock classic she and Sonny Bono recorded, "I Got You Babe," that went to No. 1 in 1965.

I like her acting in such movies as "Suspect," "Silkwood" and "Moonstruck," the latter winning her an Academy Award for best actress.

I like how she manages to reinvent herself every few years so that, now, at age 52, she once again has a top hit, "Believe." You hear that catchy dance tune every 15 minutes on the pop stations. She's so popular that on the Internet, kids from all over the world put together Web pages devoted to this middle-aged woman, and post messages about "Cher, We Believe in the Power."

These are kids who might not pay attention to their 52-year-old mom or dad, but they pay attention to Cher. They write: "Cher u rule." "I am only 16 and I have been a fan as long as I can remember." "We are your biggest fans in Scotland." "I LOVE YOU, CHER!"

So what does Cher have to say? This paper's library culled through interviews she did over the years. I bought "The First Time," the autobiography she recently published. From those, I've put together the Zen of Cher. She rules with a huge audience, and these are the beliefs she rules with.

On materialism: "Money has never been a priority and never a problem. Sometimes I have money and sometimes I don't, and my life never really changes."

On finding your inner self: "People's ideas of what's appropriate are so ridiculous. I don't know what I'm doing, you know? If I gave up everything tomorrow and became a Buddhist nun, that would be appropriate, because that's what's so cool: You can do anything."

On fitting in: "I just get on with being me. That can mean being near-naked and sitting astride the cannon of a warship for a pop video, or it can mean playing Dolly in `Silkwood.' People just have to accept that I'm going to be who I want to be."

On two things that are important in her life: "I'll never get rid of my motorcycle or my truck."

On getting older: "I hate my 50s. They suck. I never felt older until I hit 50. . . . Being older is not as much fun as being young. You have to work harder for a diminished result. I've been 40 and I've been 50, and 40 is better. Sure, some people might be having a great time being older, but I'm just not one of them."

On men: "Men always have been afraid to approach me . . . I love all the men I've been with, but the next one is always better than the last one . . . I could get a cool guy who was 70. I wouldn't even care. But usually I find that older men are more frightened by me and younger men are more interested."

On finding love at 52: "Love is harder to find when you're older. I live in Los Angeles, where newer is better and older is useless. But I guess if grass can grow through cement, love can find you at every time in your life."

On the tattoo fad and why she's getting hers removed: "When I got them, no one else had them. Now everyone has them. They're not so fabulous anymore."

On failure and success: "When you count your life, it's full of obviously successful things and obviously things that are failures, and that's what goes to make up your life, and the fat lady hasn't sung and I'm still here. I'm more aware of my failures than anyone else because I'm living it . . . If it turns out to be a bad thing, I don't spend too much time on it. I don't spend a lot of time with my successes, either."

And, finally, on why Stephen Hawking, the noted theoretical physicist, asked her out to lunch. You could say this synopsizes why Cher rules: "I guess mathematics is not as much fun at lunch as Cher."

Erik Lacitis' column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. His phone number is 206-464-2237. His e-mail address is: elac-new@seatimes.com