Cher’s father has been the source of much speculation over the years, as he was reportedly not around for most of her upbringing.
Different sources have stated different accounts, with some believing his name to be John Sarkisian and others thinking he may have been Gilbert LaPiere.
According to biography.com and IMDb, it is believed that her parents were married twice; once in 1946 when daughter Georganne was born, and then again in 1952 when Cher was born a year later.
Unfortunately, many of the facts remain clear; regardless, it is evident that they greatly influenced the singer’s life and career.
While Holt was a working artist in the 1950s, Sarkisian supported the family by being a truck driver.
Although there is not much information about their relationship, it has been suggested that Holt and Sarkisian were only together for a short time.
After Holt’s mother died, Cher’s upbringing became even more turbulent as Holt had to take on both roles of parent and carer.
The world may never know what happened between Georgia Holt and John Paul Sarkisian.
But, what we can guess is that their brief relationship left an indelible mark on music history as it brought one of the biggest Hollywood stars into existence: Cher.
Cher’s father’s relationship with Holt
Sarkisian’s addiction created significant problems in his relationship with Holt, which resulted in her taking steps to end their relationship.
Cher revealed in an interview with ABC News that Holt had planned on having an abortion until she changed her mind at the last minute.
Understandably, Holt became distant when discussing Sarkisian, which impacted Cher growing up, as she had limited knowledge about her father due to refusal to talk about him.
Her revelation further substantiates the regrettable effects of addiction and its negative impact on people’s relationships.
After her father, Holt, left, life was difficult for the remaining household. With no other source of income, Holt had to resort to various forms of part-time work in order to make ends meet.
At one point in time, he was even forced to place Cher in a Catholic orphanage due to financial constraints. Growing up without her father’s presence, Cher did not get to meet him properly until she was 11 years old.
In her book The First Time, Cher described how conversations about him were avoided and “the subject was closed” in her family home.
Meeting her father for the first time! When Cher was eleven, her mother’s unexpected question made a big impression on the young girl.
Their physical similarities marked an emotional milestone – “Now I understand. This is where I came from.”
But no matter how much they looked alike, there still existed an emotional distance between them that shared DNA couldn’t wipe away.
Even so, Cher tried to make an effort — after all, John Sarkisian was a stranger who had walked in with “her smile.”
They would eventually reconnect though sometimes tumultuous years later when Sarkisian married Holt a second time from 1965-1966.
Despite unfortunately facing the challenge of multiple marriages, Georgia Holt and her daughter Cher refused to be defined by the chaos it caused.
In December 2019, shortly before she passed away in her Los Angeles home at the age of 93, Holt reflected on this, saying, “Our life was so chaotic, just one insane moment after another.”
But her longest and most stable relationship was with Craig Spencer, an antique dealer from Washington.
This companionship lasted for more than 40 years and demonstrated how two people could move forward through obstacles together and forge something strong from a chaotic past.
What happened to Cher’s father?
John Sarkisian, who would have been 58 at the time of his death on January 28, 1985, in Fresno, California, was born to Ghiragos Geroge Sarkisian and Siranousch (Blanche) Dilkian in Alameda, California, on March 23, 1926.
His parents were both Armenian refugees who had fled the United States in the years when the genocide took place.
His daughter Cher is very vocal in celebrating her Armenian heritage, which she has inherited from her father’s side of the family.
In 1993, she traveled to provide humanitarian aid to war-torn Armenia under the auspices of the United Armenian Fund – a non-profit relief organization.
Even though no cause of death is reported for John Sarkisian, his legacy lives on through his famous daughter and their shared cultural heritage.
