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Cher Sues Sonny Bono’s Widow After Claims She Isn’t Receiving Royalties

Married in the 60s, Cher and Sonny Bono made compilation albums together. After divorcing the singer, Bono got married two more times before passing away. As it turns out, Cher is now suing his last wife, Mary Bono, claiming she isn’t getting paid royalties from when the two collaborated together.

Fox News obtained court documents stating Cher alleges Mary breached a contract signed by the former along with her ex-husband after they divorced. The documents in question reference a “1979 marriage settlement agreement” the former couple agreed to after splitting up.

“When they divorced, Plaintiff and Sonny agreed to an equal division of their community property and, to that end, in 1978 Sonny irrevocably assigned to Plaintiff, as her sole and separate property throughout the world and in perpetuity, fifty percent of their rights in musical composition royalties, record royalties, and other assets,” the filing reads.

The documents further state Mary undid Cher’s ownership of the royalties and robbed her of the promised 50 percent. Establishing the Veritas Trust in 1990, Cher created it to claim due royalties. However, in 2016 Cher claims termination to various music publishers occurred and they didn’t renew copyrights for the music. This termination was done without her knowing about it.

Last month, the trust Mary manages supposedly had representatives terminate “the stream of Composition Royalties that Sonny assigned to Plaintiff in the 1978 Marriage Settlement Agreement and, as a result, the Heirs’ statutory termination ends her right to those Royalties.”

In short, Cher says Mary refused to pay her and the trust owed royalties. Her agreement states she’s due 50 percent and the damages equal more than $1 million.

Cher is now seeking a trial by jury while Mary Bono has yet to respond about the lawsuit.

Kacey Musgraves Says She was ‘Freaking Out’ About Meeting Cher

To say singer and songwriter Kacey Musgraves is successful is putting it lightly. The country music star earned six Grammy Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards, and three Academy of Country Music Awards, with more likely on the way. Nonetheless, she still said “I’m such a fan, I was freaking out” when she met Cher.

PEOPLE reported Musgraves went to Cher’s Las Vegas Show to celebrate her 31st birthday. “It was my mom, my sister and I, and a few members from my team,” she reflected. “We all went. It was Cher’s big Vegas show. And I am such a fan, I was freaking out. Before the show, they were like ‘Do you want to meet Cher?’ And I was like, ‘Duh.’”

Sufficed to say, Musgraves idolizes Cher. “She definitely does not need a last name. Cher is an icon. She has managed to stay relevant without selling out her entire career. And I just really admire that. I’m mean, damn, the woman has some hits.”