Tuesday, May 17, 2011

'I would love to talk to Brad and Angelina': Cher's son Chaz wants to support tomboy Shiloh

By Daily Mail Reporter


Growing up as the daughter of famous parents, Cher's son Chaz Bono knows only too well how the pressures of celebrity can complicate life.

Now the 42-year-old, who was christened Chastity, has offered to help Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie with any issues their daughter Shiloh may struggle with.

The four-year-old has received attention for her tomboy style, which caused Bono to comment.

'I would love to talk to [Brad and Angelina] at some point,' Bono told E! News. 'To at least let them know we have this resource for them if they ever need it.'

Bono does volunteer work for a support group which helps children with gender identity issues and their families.

He adds: 'People get too freaked out about kids and what to do with kids. If you just let kids do what they need to do they usually have the right idea.'

Jolie - who has six children with Pitt - has previously revealed that she encourages her eldest biological child to embrace her tomboy style.

'She wants to be a boy,' she told Vanity Fair in August. 'So we had to cut her hair. She likes to wear boys' everything. She thinks she's one of the brothers.'

Apparently coining a new fashion term, she said: 'Shiloh, we feel, has Montenegro style.'

'She dresses like a little dude. It's how people dress there. She likes tracksuits, she likes [regular] suits.'

Anguish: Chaz Bono opens up to Oprah about his transition from female to male on Monday's show

'My body betrayed me': Bono told Oprah about his terrible teenage years


But Jolie made it clear she wasn't concerned, saying she sees much of her creative self in her daughter.

'Shiloh’s hysterically funny, one of the goofiest, most playful people you’ll ever meet,' she says.

'Goofy and verbal, the early signs of a performer. I used to get dressed up in costumes and jump around.'

As a child Bono was spotted regularly - all blonde locks and cutesy smile - on her parents TV show in the seventies.

But in a moving new interview, he told Oprah Winfrey that he felt his body was 'literally betraying' him when he went through puberty, as he watched in horror as it changed shape from athletic to curvy.

However he paid tribute to his 64-year-old mother by admitting: 'There's no doubt about her love for me.'

'It was just horrifying to me,' Bono said. 'You have this image of yourself and all of a sudden your body does the exact opposite of what you feel.'

Bono, who has chosen to tell his story in the documentary Becoming Chaz, which premieres tomorrow on Winfrey's OWN channel, said he first decided to become a lesbian, an identity he says 'worked for a little while'.

'I always had this idea that, sure, I wished I was a boy and felt more like a boy and all of that. But I wasn't, so I would deal with it. And I for some reason thought there were other lesbians that felt that way and that was just part of that community,' he said.

Thrilled: Bono underwent breast removal surgery as part of his sex change, but has no plans to go under the knife again


'Then I started to realise, no, that isn't what a lesbian is at all. That's what being transgender is.'

He also revealed that Cher was 'unbelievably cool' when he told her about the sex change, which involved breast removal surgery but no work on his female genitalia.

But he admitted that the legendary star started to pull away when she saw the first effects of the testosterone injections.

'When my voice started to change, I think, is when it really hit her,' he admitted to Winfrey.

He added: "The hard thing for my mom, I think, is that because she's a public figure and because she has this personality of kind of being so cool about stuff and progressive, people forget that she's a parent.'

Love: Bono says girlfriend Jennifer Elia found the change hard at first, but they're fine now

'Saying it with a deeper voice didn't mean the same': Elia struggled when her girlfriend became a man


'This is an incredibly difficult process for parents, the truth is that a lot of parents never speak to their transgender kids again,' Bono explained.

Before adding with a smile: 'That's not the case in my family, there's no doubt about her love for me.'

He then revealed that Cher has come to terms with Bono's transformation, even agreeing to be interviewed for the documentary, which has ultimately, made her proud.

'She really liked it a lot,' Bono said. 'But I think it was probably hard to see.'


Proud mother: Cher and Chaz at her hand and footprint ceremony in Hollywood and, right, Chaz when he was Chastity. Cher was 'unbelievably cool' about his transformation, said Chaz


His girlfriend Jennifer Elia, whom he began dating in 2005 while still a woman, has also come to terms with the change, despite initial problems.

Bono explained: 'Saying the same things that I would have before with a deeper voice and as more of a man didn't mean the same thing to her.

'We had to really almost relearn how to communicate and how to be around each other,' he said, with Elia sitting by his side.

He also releases a book about his experience, 'Transition: The Story of How I Became a Man,' this week.


source:dailymail

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