Happy Birthday, Cher! 9 Times the Diva Defied Age

Cher is 69 today? Cher is 69 today!

To celebrate the ageless showbiz icon, we at ETonline aren’t just doing a hair toss in her honor. We’re turning back time, spotlighting nine moments in Cher’s half-century-long career when she showed us that age ain’t nothing but a number.

1. Gypsies, Tramps & Twitter

Anyone doubting the tweeting talents of the baby-boomer generation has not yet experienced Cher’s social media. A freewheeling display of DruNKEN poeTRY, the diva isn’t shy with her Twitter tell-alls. Was turkey giving her hot flashes?It was. Did she get, um, festive for Madonna’s birthday?She did. Seriously, guys: Nobody does 144 characters or less like Cher. 

(Does it even matter that we have no idea what Cher is saying
here? Of course it doesn’t. We love “CHER Yrs” too much to care.)

2. Unbreakable Even by
Burlesque

Nothing stands in Cher’s way. Not even Burlesque, the 2010 can’t-look-away camp-musical that she herself
admits “wasn’t
a good film.” But ever the survivor, Cher walked away unscathed… and lived
to sing about it! “You
Haven’t Seen the Last of Me” casts Cher as a warrior of life, love and this
hot mess of a movie. 

3. Dancing Queen

As she toasted to yet another No. 1 hit with “Woman’s World”
two years ago, Cher raved into the wee hours during a celebratory evening at
West Hollywood’s Rasputin Nightclub. When you look as stunning as Cher, who
needs beauty sleep?

4. Bye Forever
(Jk!)

Remember when Cher said she was done and then she changed her mind? The "Living Proof: Farewell Tour" became "The Farewell Tour" became "The Never Could Say Goodbye Tour." Nearly 10 years later, in 2014, she hit the road again because Cher doesn't even know what retirement means.

5. Hangin’ Tough

Strutting her fit figure during a not-to-be-missed series of
’80s commercials for Holiday Health & Fitness Centers, Cher flexed her
muscles as only Cher would: in a double-slit dress and sassy heels. Her sage
advice? “GET TOUGH!” If anyone knows something about getting (and staying!)
strong, it’s Cher. 

6. Don’t Stop
Believing

Do you believe in life after… a 30-year career? You better.
In 1999, “Believe” climbed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Dance
Club Play charts, making Cher -- at 53 -- the oldest female solo artist to nab
a No. 1 single. Thanks, Auto-Tune. Which, by the way, she
basically invented. 

7. Bang Bang!

Cher, slow down? NEVER. In 2013 she released her 26th (!!)
studio album, Closer to the Truth,
and it wasn’t justher sexy
Victoria’s Secret pose exuding eternal youth. The music itself was a
pulsating parade of radio-ready, for-the-kids club jams. Her aging peers might
be performing the Great American Songbook, but Cher is bumpin’ and grindin’
through her golden years. 

8. Fishnets Forever

In 2010, Cher turned heads when she showed up to the MTV
Video Music Awards to present Lady Gaga with a Moonman. Fishnets? Check.
See-through bodysuit? Check. As she resurrected her iconic“If I Could Turn Back Time”
battleship get-up from 1989 looking not a day older, it was hard to believe
two decades had gone by. 

9. In Her Own Words

Age-defying wisdom straight from Cher. PREACH.