Chaz Bono Talks 'Becoming Chaz,' Cher on 'Oprah'
May 9, 2011 — -- After years of struggling with his sexuality, Chaz Bono opened up about transitioning to a man on today's "Oprah."
"Life was always so much more difficult," he told Oprah Winfrey about his former life as Chastity Bono. "It also felt like my body was literally betraying me."
"The boobs threw you off," Winfrey said. "Ugh," Bono grunted. "You have this image of yourself and all of a sudden your body does the exact opposite of what you feel."
Watch Chaz Bono's interview on "Nightline" Monday at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT and tune in for more on "Good Morning America" Tuesday at 7 a.m. ET/PT.
Bono, the 42-year-old son of Cher and the late Sonny Bono, made a documentary about his transition, "Becoming Chaz," which airs on Oprah Winfrey's OWN Tuesday. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, which Bono attended with his partner, Jennifer Elia. Cher was absent.
On "Oprah," Bono revealed that Cher has seen the film.
"She really liked it a lot. But I think it was probably hard to see," he said. "She has finally gotten that this is the thing that's making me happy."
Dressed in a pinstriped blazer, checkered shirt and dress pants, on "Oprah," Bono looked like a better version of himself than the floundering, insecure man seen in his documentary, who barrels through a men's clothing store like a bull in a China shop.
The Bono In "Becoming Chaz" is desperate to erase all signs of his femininity. He injects himself with testosterone; he binds his chest so tight he has trouble breathing. "I'll be really happy to get rid of these," he declares before finally going under the knife to remove his breasts.
Despite his insistence to get rid of his breasts, Bono told Winfrey that he doesn't want male genitalia.
"At this point, I really don't have any plans to do bottom surgery," he said. "I feel really good, I feel like a man now, and I'm really happy."
No one seems more uncomfortable with Bono's change than Cher. The two appear together in one scene at the end of "Becoming Chaz," after the credits start rolling. But the majority of Cher's input in the movie comes via a single-camera interview in which she often refers to her son as a woman.
"I said, you know, can't you just do it quietly? That wasn't her plan," she says. "If I don't recognize her, what will happen? ... I worry about the drugs she has to take in order to keep this."
On "Oprah," Bono said that Cher now regularly refers to him as Chaz.
"Now, everything is so easy and effortless," he said about his new life. "I feel like I'm on the same playing field as everybody else."
