Georgia Holt, best known as Cher’s mother but an actress, model, and singer in her own right, has died. Cher confirmed the death on social media. Holt was 96 and no details on her death were given, although it was previously revealed she was hospitalized with pneumonia earlier this year.
Cher said she had been “very careful” to avoid exposing her elderly mother to any potential illnesses during the pandemic.
“We have a little bubble that we’ve had all this time,” she said. “We wear masks, and there’s not very many of us. It’s my sister, my brother-in-law, my mom, my assistant. And we stay far apart from each other.”
She added: “I have to be careful too because I have asthma. … I have different health problems.”
Holt was born in Arkansas in 1926. She moved to Los Angeles and had roles in such shows as “I Love Lucy” and talk shows by Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin. She released her debut album, Honky Tonk Woman, in 2013, which she recorded in the ’80s.
“She never gave me and my sister advice because, truthfully, she knew we’d never take it,” Cher said of her mother. “Instead, we learned about life by listening to her talk about the things she did wrong and the things she did right.”
Holt was married and divorced six times. She is survived by two daughters.