Cher on Her 78th Birthday Plans, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction and 'Mamma Mia 3' Possibility (Exclusive)

Cher was among the venerable artists announced as the latest inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last month, and the 77-year-old musician tells ET that she is going to have "some words to say" when she accepts her honor.

The music and film icon walked the red carpet at the Paley Center for the premiere of the documentary Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion, where she spoke with ET's Denny Directo about her nomination, which comes after she publicly spoke out about her frustration with not being inducted after her decades-long career on The Kelly Clarkson Show in December.

During the appearance, Clarkson noted that Cher has had No. 1 records "spanning seven decades," adding that she can't think of another artist whose accomplished the same. Cher replied that a band (The Rolling Stones) has done the same, quipping that it "took four of them to be one of me."

But despite her chart-topping history, Cher pointed out that she hadn't been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The Rolling Stones were inducted in 1989.

"You know what? I wouldn't be in it now if they gave me a million dollars. I'm not kidding you," Cher said at the time, adding that she was "never gonna change" her mind. "They can just go you-know-what themselves... I changed music forever with 'Believe.'"

Four months later, Cher was announced as one of the inductees.

But Cher isn't without gratitude at the recognition: as she tells ET, "I can thank David Geffen, my friend and most wonderful person ever, and John Sykes."

Still, the singer isn't letting the occasion go without having some jabs. "I'm going to have some words to say. I'm going to accept it as me," she adds.

As one of Bob Mackie's frequent collaborators, Cher also reflects on working with the designer, who was behind some of her most iconic looks over the years.

The pair first met when Mackie was tasked with styling Cher for an appearance on The Carol Burnett Show in 1967. "We hit it off right off the bat," Mackie told Variety of their meeting in a 2021 interview.

While Cher called upon Mackie to style her for special occasions, their partnership really took off when she starred on The Sonny and Cher Show and selected Mackie to create her costumes.

Their partnership has lasted the test of time. Mackie has designed looks for Cher from red carpet events to tour costumes. He even designed the singer's looks for her Las Vegas residency and Dressed to Kill tour.

"I'm excited to be here because he's been such a gigantic part of my life," Cher tells ET of attending the Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion premiere. "[He's] responsible for some of my success, I would say he really started me on a road that at that point nobody was doing it. And he always just gave me the confidence...I never felt naked the whole time I was working [with him]."

Meanwhile, the singer's 78th birthday is drawing near -- May 20 -- but she isn't nearly as excited as one might expect. When asked about her celebration plans, Cher quips that she plans to spend the day by "putting my pillow over my head and screaming."

The Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again star is just as nebulous when it comes to her future in the musical franchise that fans are hoping includes another installment.

Cher joined the Mamma Mia universe in the 2018 sequel, where she played Ruby Sheridan, the mother of Meryl Streep's Donna and grandmother to Sophie (Amanda Seyfried).

When asked about returning for a possible expansion, Cher tells ET that creator and producer "Judy [Craymer] just won't leave me alone," so if there's a continuation she might make an appearance.

The singer laments that she doesn't know "what I can do, I don't know what I can add," but there's still hope!

In January 2023, Seyfried told ET that she was "waiting for the call" to join a third installment.

Later that year, in a lengthy oral history of Mamma Mia for Vogue, Streep shared her thoughts on a potential third installment of the beloved franchise.

"I'm up for anything. I’ll have to schedule a knee scoping before we film, but if there's an idea that excites me, I’m totally there," Streep quipped of the musical films. "I told Judy if she could figure out a way to reincarnate Donna, I'm into that. Or it could be like in one of those soap operas where Donna comes back and reveals it was really her twin sister that died."

Craymer, who created the original Broadway musical, admitted that she got into a lot of trouble with fans for killing off Streep's character, but says there are lots of possibilities for bringing the cast back.

"We went back and forth in time with the second one, so now we have the creative license to explore this world further. We still don’t really know what happened to Lily James’s version of Donna in those middle years," Craymer said of James, who played the younger Donna in Here We Go Again. "Or what happens to Donna and Sam [Pierce Brosnan] after the first movie? Will Harry [Colin Firth] ever settle down? I think we have to bring a certain closure to these characters. All of their odysseys lead them back to the island because that’s where they all want to be in their older years."

Stellan Skarsgård, who played Bill, said of another film, "I doubt any of us would shy away from doing another one. It’s just a matter of finding enough songs to come up with a new story."

Seyfried seemed less optimistic about a third moving, saying, "Nobody is saying no, but nobody is saying yes either. The powers that be probably can’t afford us to be honest. I hate to say it, because would I do Mamma Mia 3 for free—of course I would—but that’s not the business we’re in. What’s fair is fair, and I feel like a third film is gonna come down to something stupid like whether or not Universal wants to pay the money."

Streep quipped, "We may have to call it Grand-Mamma Mia! by the time we make it!"

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