Cher was dressed to impress as she was bestowed the Icon Award by Meryl Streep at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday evening, leading fans to look back at a photo of the two from more than 40 years ago.
After Streep, 74, warmly introduced her to the stage at the Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, the Grammy winner, 77, began her acceptance with a hilarious message to her haters.
‘There are people who say, ‘Doesn’t that b**ch have more than one pair of pants?’ Cher began. ‘I’ve had these pants for 40 years. I thought we should come here and accept this award together.’
Meryl and Cher posed together for a photo at the show, but fans on social media were shocked to see how similar the leading ladies looked to a similar picture of the two snapped decades earlier.
The photo, which was taken more than 40 years ago at the premiere of their 1983 biographical drama Silkwood, featured Meryl in a white sportcoat with lacy white blouse and a black skirt, which complemented her all-white ensemble from Monday’s awards show.
Cher was dressed to impress as she was bestowed the Icon Award from Meryl Streep at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday evening
At the awards show, Meryl and Cher posed together for a photo, but fans on social media were shocked to see how similar the leading ladies looked to a similar picture of the two at the 1983 premiere of their film Silkwood
After Streep, 74, warmly introduced her to the stage at the Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, the Grammy winner, 77, began her acceptance with a hilarious message to her haters
Cher had a similarly thick head of raven tresses and wore a half-gray, half-black jacket that was reminiscent of her jeweled all-black look at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
Mery led Silkwood as the title character, Karen Silkwood, a chemical technician and labor union activist who had worked at a plant that manufactured nuclear fuel.
After Silkwood testified to the Atomic Energy Commission about lax safety standards at the plant, she found during a routine self-check that she had been exposed to hundreds of times the legal limit of radioactive matter.
Silkwood died in 1974 after apparently driving off road and crashing her car. However, her family and supporters have claimed that she was the victim of foul play, as she allegedly had sensitive documents about the plant in the car that were missing when her body was discovered.
Cher played a supporting role in the film — which was directed by the late Mike Nichols — as Silkwood’s lesbian housemate, which Kurt Russell also costarred as Silkwood’s boyfriend.
‘Hotties then, hotties now!’ commented one user on X (formerly Twitter) after a fan reposted the 1983 picture.
‘And both are still in black and white [heart emojis],’ enthused another person.
‘Beautiful. They should do another movie together,’ begged one fan.
While reflecting on her six-decade long career in the music industry in her acceptance speech, Cher said she felt ‘lucky to have people that have stayed with’ her ‘all these years.’
As she spoke to the crowd, the superstar mused that ‘most’ of the audience wasn’t even born when she rose to fame as one half of the singing act with husband Sonny Bono in 1965.
‘I don’t usually talk about it, but I have been down and out so many times you could not believe it,’ Cher recalled. ‘Dropped by record companies, couldn’t get a job… they said, ‘Oh, she’s so over.’ But I never gave up my dream.’
She encouraged others to ‘have a dream’ and not to give up ‘no matter what happens.’
‘If you have a dream and stick with it, you will have a wonderful life and it will probably come true,’ she urged viewers to remember.
Mery led Silkwood as the title character, Karen Silkwood, a chemical technician and labor union activist who had worked at a plant that manufactured nuclear fuel, while Cher played her lesbian housemate; still from Silkwood
Silkwood was a real life chemical technician and union activist who died in a mysterious car crash in 1974 after accusing the nuclear plant she worked at of having lax safety standards; still from Silkwood
The film was directed by Mike Nichols and costarred Kurt Russell as Meryl’s love interest; publicity still from Silkwood (1983)
‘There are people who say, ‘Doesn’t that b**ch have more than one pair of pants?’ the living legend began. ‘I’ve had these pants for 40 years. I thought we should come here and accept this award together’
While reflecting on her six-decade long career in the music industry, the Strong Enough hitmaker said she felt ‘lucky to have people that have stayed with’ her ‘all these years’
As she spoke to the crowd, the superstar mused that ‘most’ of the audience wasn’t even born when she rose to fame as one half of the singing act with husband Sonny Bono in 1965
‘I don’t usually talk about it, but I have been down and out so many times you could not believe it,’ Cher recalled. ‘Dropped by record companies, couldn’t get a job… they said, ‘Oh, she’s so over.’ But I never gave up my dream’
2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards Winners At a Glance
Song of the Year:
‘Kill Bill’ – SZA – WINNER
Innovator Award: Beyonce – WINNER
Pop Album of the Year: Olivia Rodrigo, GUTS – WINNER
(New for 2024) Pop Song of the Year:
‘Flowers’- Miley Cyrus – WINNER
Artist of the Year:
Taylor Swift- WINNER
Beyonce wins the Innovator Award at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards
(New for 2024) Pop Artist of the Year:
Taylor Swift – WINNER
Innovator Award: Beyonce – WINNER
Icon Award: Cher – WINNER
Landmark Award: Green Day – WINNER
Duo/Group of the Year:
OneRepublic – WINNER
Before welcoming Cher on stage, Streep, who wore a plunging white Lanvin gown that has been in her closet since 2015, paid homage to her former costar’s legendary career.
‘You know that Cher has had a number one record in each of the last seven decades?’ the three-time Oscar winner stated. ‘She’s the only woman in U.S. history to have done that.’
She continued: ‘What does it take to have those kinds of legs, right? We all want to know. It’s not 15 minutes of fame anymore. You’re lucky to get seven seconds of somebody’s fractured attention — never mind seven decades.’
Streep went on to say it ‘takes heart’ to be as successful as Cher, who she said has a ‘giant heart.’
‘When I think of Cher I think of her giant heart. how open it is, how battered it is and how strong it is and how she leads with her heart and everything she does interacting, singing, dancing or dressing,’ the Don’t Look Up actress said. ‘She just puts it all out there — and it’s brought her lots of prestigious awards.’
‘But it’s also pulled her to work on behalf of our veterans and for LGBTQ rights and many other causes when I first met her 40 years ago, when we made a film about an activist called [Karen] Silkwood. And in the movie really we held onto each other — we rocked on a porch swing in this little house in Sherman, Texas on an October night and I sang her a lullaby but all I could think of as we are going back and back [was] I Got You Babe,’ she concluded.
Earlier in the evening, Cheer performed her 1998 hit song Believe alongside Jennifer Hudson.
First Hudson sang Cher’s beloved track, If I Could Turn Back Time, before the mother-of-two began to croon Believe.
Earlier in the evening, Cheer performed her 1998 hit song Believe alongside Jennifer Hudson
First Hudson sang Cher’s beloved track, If I Could Turn Back Time, before the mother-of-two began to croon Believe
The Icon Award has previously been awarded to Bon Jovi, Elton John, Pink and Jennifer Lopez.
The awards show, held at the Dolby Theatre in downtown Los Angeles on Monday evening, honors the artists and songs who were most played on iHeartRadio stations and the app.
Ludacris hosted the celeb-packed affair, which also honored Beyonce for her contributions to music.
Queen Bey, who released her country album Cowboy Carter last week, received the iHeartRadio Innovator Award.