Cher for Real, as 'Living Proof'

By Stephen M. Silverman

Thursday February 28, 2002 01:30 PM EST

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Cher has a new album, called "Living Proof," which hit stores on Thursday. Not surprisingly, she's making the interview rounds. Wednesday night, after the Grammys, she faced off with David Letterman. They were cordial to each other. (She once famously called him an "a-----e" on the air.) Thursday morning it was the "Today" show. March 1 she is expected on the "Rosie O'Donnell Show." Although this is not the same old Cher on the outside -- she's blonde now -- the 55-year-old diva is quoted as saying that beneath the bleached hair (which she admits is a wig), she is still the same lovable brunette she always was. "I never, ever, ever changed that part of me because you can't change who you really are," the singer and actress said in an interview due to air on "Primetime Thursday" and previewed on ABCNEWS.com. "Underneath all this fluff and crap is me . . . It's just me like I was (at) 6 years old. I haven't changed in all that time." Not that who she is has ever been easy to define. "Actors don't consider me an actress," she concedes, and "singers don't consider me a singer." The Oscar winner (1987's "Moonstruck") also denies the many rumors and tabloid articles that claim she lives for plastic surgery, specifically, it is claimed, "ass implants and calf implants and cheek implants," she cites as examples. "I've had the same cheeks my entire life. No butt lifts. No ribs removed." On the other hand, Cher's nose in photos from the '60s doesn't seem to match the Cher nose of later years. Still, Cher says if she had work done, or even if she wore her breasts "on my back, it's nobody's business but my own." Yup -- same old Cher.