Cher will have to cover her own legal costs from her court fight with Sonny Bono’s widow, Mary Bono, according to Rolling Stone.
Although Cher came out ahead in the royalties dispute, a federal judge denied her request to force Mary to reimburse her $1,023,605 legal bill. Billboard reported that Judge John A. Kronstadt said the case largely turned on contract issues rather than federal copyright law, so the legal rules Cher relied on did not apply.
Kronstadt previously ruled in Cher’s favor in the long-running dispute, issuing a final judgment in November 2025. In that ruling, he upheld an earlier decision that said Mary could not use the federal Copyright Act to take back the 50% share of Sonny’s composition royalties that Cher was awarded in her 1978 divorce agreement.
The judge also said Cher still has the right to receive her composition and record royalties directly, even after selling those rights to Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group in 2022. Mary had wanted to deal directly with Iconic and have the payments routed through Sonny’s estate instead.
Mary has appealed the ruling that says Cher is entitled to half of the publishing royalties from Sonny and Cher songs including “I Got You Babe” and “The Beat Goes On.” A federal appeals court has not yet decided that appeal.
