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Cher’s biological father was John Sarkisian. She said in a 1983 interview that she first met him when she was 11 and, at the time of the interview, barely knew him and had almost no contact with him. An indexed genealogical profile reports that John Paul Sarkisian died in Fresno, California, on January 28, 1985. The sources cited here do not establish his cause of death.
Who was Cher’s biological father?
Cher was born in El Centro, California, in 1946, to Georgia Holt and John Sarkisian, according to Biography.com. The site describes Sarkisian as a truck driver who was seldom home and says Cher was placed in a Pennsylvania orphanage as an infant while Holt worked and arranged care. Those details are biographical reporting, rather than claims confirmed here by primary records.
What did Cher say about their relationship?
In a 1983 interview with The Washington Post, Cher said she did not meet her father until she was 11. Describing their relationship at the time, she said: “I don’t know him very well and we have almost no contact.”
That is a direct account of how Cher characterized the relationship in 1983. It does not establish whether they had later contact, or describe every part of their relationship.
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What happened to John Sarkisian?
An Ancestry indexed profile lists John Paul Sarkisian’s death as January 28, 1985, in Fresno, California. Ancestry says its profiles draw on historical records and user-contributed family trees; the date and place should therefore be understood as the profile’s report, not as a personally verified death certificate.
The sources cited here do not establish how he died. They also do not provide a reliable, detailed account of his later life. No cause of death or further narrative should be inferred from the date and location alone.
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What the available accounts can—and cannot—show
- Firsthand recollection: Cher’s 1983 interview documents what she said about meeting her father and the limited contact she described at that point.
- Biographical reporting: Biography.com supplies background about Sarkisian and Cher’s childhood, but the details should remain attributed to that account.
- Genealogical index: Ancestry’s profile reports a death date and place, but the cited material does not establish the cause of death.
Cher’s memoir, Cher: The Memoir, Part One, is an optional first-person account of the first half of her life and childhood. It can offer her perspective, but it is not independent verification of every claim about her father.
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