The legendary singer – who married her musical partner in 1964 – struggled to cope with her partner’s womanising ways and controlling attitude, and now accepts they should never have wed.
She said: "He didn't want me to grow up or have any freedom. I wasn't allowed to do anything except work. We worked more than we lived.
"Stardom made Sonny a huge womaniser. One woman, or even five, was not enough for him. I found all this out afterward. I asked him, 'How did you manage the logistics?' I was trusting and faithful with him. The truth is, I'm not so sure we should've ever been husband and wife.
"I thought about jumping off a hotel balcony. Then I thought, ‘No, I can just leave him.’ "
Though Cher was miserable in her marriage to Sonny – who died in a skiing accident in 1998 – the 64-year-old star has now found happiness with 52-year-old Ron Zimmerman – though the screenwriter initially thought she was a prostitute when they first made contact with one another on social networking website Facebook a year ago.
She explained to Parade magazine: "A girlfriend of mine knew him. He wrote her this funny stuff. So then Ron and I started writing to each other on Facebook. He thought that I was a Cher impersonator or a hooker - it never occurred to him that it was actually me.
“We played verbal volleyball for about a month until he called my friend and asked who I really was. She went, 'It's Cher.' Ron flipped out. Then we talked on the phone. I said, 'Why don't you come over and we'll meet? If I don't like you or you don't like me, you can just go home.' And that's how we met.”
The ‘Burlesque’ star has previously dated a string of famous men including Warren Beatty, Val Kilmer, Tom Cruise and Richie Sambora and insists she has no relationship regrets.
She said: "I enjoyed them all. I never felt I chose badly, and I was always happy when the next man came along. I can usually last about two years with a man, and that's it. The moment the relationship goes into the phase of more commitment, it changes."
