Cher Reveals How Kiss Rocker Gene Simmons Would Go Incognito (Sans the Demon Makeup) When They Dated

Gene Simmons was a master of disguise when he dated Cher.

In Cher: The Memoir, Part One, the Moonstruck actress, 78, writes about her relationship with the KISS rocker, 75, whom she dated from 1977 to 1979.

When they went out in Los Angeles, Cher noted the lack of makeup Simmons wore when offstage. Since KISS is known for its dramatic black-and-white makeup, he was able to blend in.

“The makeup and clothes that make KISS so recognizable also allowed them to have separation between when they were ‘on’ as celebrities and when they were leading private lives,” she writes. However, going out with the very famous Cher didn’t help.

“He’d want to go out with me as regular Gene,” she notes. “He didn’t want to put on his persona when we went on dates, but he didn’t want to appear to the public as his private self.”

Cher said that the band would wear bandanas over their faces “like cowboys” when they weren’t in public as KISS.

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The “Believe” singer also mentions how “interesting” to watch Simmons transform into his KISS persona when he wore the demonic makeup. “When I’m in my costume I might get crazy and not treat you the same,” Cher recalls him saying, referring to himself as “the Demon.”

After he loomed over her and growled at her in full makeup, Cher told him to stop because she wouldn’t “put up with it.”

The former couple spoke to PEOPLE about their relationship in 1979. “I’m crazy about Cher, nuts about her. She’s my first love,” Simmons gushed at the time. “Cher’s an untainted soul who has never done anything bad to anybody.”

Along with anecdotes about her relationships, Cher’s memoir includes anecdotes such as finding out what her legal name was after a birth certificate mix-up, stopping by Salvador Dalí’s apartment after he hosted an orgy and meeting Jackie Kennedy, among other stories from her life.

Cher: The Memoir, Part One is available for purchase wherever books are sold. The second part of her memoir is expected to hit bookshelves in 2025.