‘Wild Child’ Cher reveals childhood incident that landed her in jail

She may be one of the world’s best entertainers but singer Cher has revealed she was a bit of a naughty child.

The 72-year-old appeared on a recent episode of The Graham Norton Show in the United Kingdom where she candidly told the host about the relationship she has with her mother, Georgia Holt, who is still alive at the age of 92. Before she told the host about her childhood, she explained that her mother once gave her some advice she still lives by today.

“If it doesn’t matter in five years, it doesn’t matter,” she explained. “And it always helps me. It always comes in handy.”

Graham then asked Cher if she was a “wild child” during her teenage years and questioned if her mother came up with the advice to help her handle her daughter.

“Alright. I was wilder when I was nine years old than I ever was as a teenager,” she explained. “I ran away from home. I stole a horse. I jumped on a freighter and kept going until my girlfriend started crying for her mother.”

Graham then asked the ‘Believe in Love’ hit-maker how she got back home, to which she replied: “I called my mother”. At that point, the live studio audience burst into laughter. The host then pulled up a photo of the Mama Mia star’s first mugshot.

“Oh my god! That’s not true,” a mortified Cher said. “That’s not true. I did it, but I didn’t get arrested for it.”

She clarified the mugshot was her school picture from the eighth grade.

“I swear to God, I would cop to it if it was true,” she said.

Unconvinced, Graham questioned why the sign Cher was holding in the picture said Los Angeles Police on it.

“Because some rag magazine thought it was funny and I actually did too,” she said, before delving into another story.

“I learned how to drive when I was 11. My grandfather taught me. It wasn’t a big deal,” she said. “So my friend had a boyfriend and he said he had to go in, we were at a bowling alley. He said, ‘I have to go in, I have to say something to a friend. I’ll be there for four seconds’.”

Cher said she waited in the car with her friend before she suggested driving around the parking lot while they waited for the boyfriend to finish up in the bowling alley.

“And so we went to a drive-in to get something to drink and we got arrested,” she explained. “But not exactly arrested, just taken to jail. Honestly, just taken to jail. This was a warning.”

It’s not the first time the star has been involved in trouble. Earlier this year when in Australia as part of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras event, the star appeared on the Kyle and Jackie O Show on Kiis FM where she explained she and actress Meryl Streep once saved a young woman who was being attacked by a man.

Read more: Cher and Meryl Streep saved a woman from a violent attack

What do you think? What sort of trouble did you find yourself in as a kid?