Cher got her first tattoo in 1972, when 'good girls' did NOT have tattoos!

"After Sonny and I were separated, I got my first tattoo," Cher says. "I thought it would be something different, a statement of freedom. 'Good' girls didn't have tattoos then, no one was doing it," That was in 1972, but today body art is all the rage.

For Tattoo number one, Cher chose to have a butterfly amid flowers etched on her butt, "where no one could see it." Then, of course, she started to wear outfits so revealing that EVERYONE could see it. "I went down to a tattoo parlor and chose a butterfly with a flower," she says.

His menacing needle in hand, the tattoo artist helped Cher decide on the location. "He told me that it hurt less on the fleshy parts of the body, so I said OK." Her point was to shock, but that wasn't the whole story. "The butterfly was more than a symbol of rebellion," She says. "It was really the first step of an experiment to start making decisions on my own. "I was 27 years old, but I had lived a sheltered life. I'd never gone on an airplane by myself. I'd never been in a bank. I had made so few real decisions that I was bound to be bad at it. I was right. I WAS bad at it."

Maybe Cher now thinks that her tattoos are "stupid" but they have gotten her plenty of attention. The visual image of Cher straddling a cannon in front of hundreds of Navy guys will always be remembered. Her "Turn Back Time" outfit is still seen in many magazines, Ebay photos and CD covers. It always reminds us that, yes, sometimes one can briefly 'turn back time'. Especially if you are Cher!

Tattoo removal, even with hi-tech lasers, is a slow and laborious process, and friends say Cher is impatiently looking forward to the day when her body will once again be a 'clean canvas.' She has described the erasing technique as "10 times more painful" then it was to get the tattoos in the first place, and her busy schedule means it will be years before the project is complete. Like everything else Cher puts her mind to, she plans to stick with it until the last one is history. But that very first tattoo has really gotten under her skin, so to speak - she vows that the butterfly on her butt will be the last to go. It was "daring and exciting," she recalls. "I was cool."

Tattoo pages: [index] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

These "Tattoo" pictures are original scans by EverythingCher and used here only for Cher fan's enjoyment. Please do not use these pictures on other web sites without first contacting the EverythingCher webmaster.