If only Hoda Kotb could turn back time.
Cher appeared on “Today” Tuesday to promote her new book, “Cher: The Memoir, Part One.” Host Kotb asked the “Believe” singer to recall a conversation she had with the late TV icon Lucille Ball and things got a little too spicy for live TV.
The “Moonlight” star explained to Kotb that when she divorced her ex-husband, Sonny Bono, in 1975, he took all the money the former couple had made together on their popular variety show, “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.”
Cher said because Ball had also been on a popular TV show, “I Love Lucy,” with ex-husband Desi Arnaz, she decided to reach out to the comedy legend for advice.
“And what did she tell you to do?” Kotb asked.
“I can’t say it on TV,” Cher warned.
“OK, we’ll bleep it,” Kotb said. “But what did she say?”
“I said, ‘Lucy, I’m calling you because, to my knowledge, there has never been a situation besides mine except yours,’” Cher said.
“Oh, like a very public duo that was breaking up?” Kotb replied.
“And so [Ball] said, ‘Fuck him, you’re the one with the talent,’” Cher said.
Although the YouTube version of their conversation now includes a bleep…
…a TikTok user published a clip of the moment that aired live to viewers, and the “fuck” wasn’t bleeped, causing Kotb to completely freak out.
Cher hasn’t only sought out other celebrities’ advice on difficult issues — she’s given it, as well.
Cher also revealed in her memoir that she gave Tina Turner advice about leaving her abusive then-husband, Ike Turner.
The singer explained that Turners had appeared on the TV show she’d begun hosting after her divorce from Bono.
“One of the days we were shooting, [Tina Turner] came to my room before we went on asking if I had some cover-up,” Cher wrote in her memoir, via Entertainment Weekly. “She had a bruise on her arm she didn’t want showing on camera. I told her I had something that would work. She sat down while I looked for it and then quietly said, very straightforward, ‘Tell me how you left him.’”
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“I just walked out and kept going,” Cher said she told Turner.