Cher has announced that her mother, the actress and singer Georgia Holt, died Saturday at the age of 96.
The “Believe” singer shared the news on Twitter. A cause of death has not been shared, but Cher, born Cherilyn Sarkisian, previously shared that her mother was hospitalized for pneumonia in September and had been sick “on and off” but “getting better.”
Reps for Cher didn’t immediately respond to EW’s request for comment Sunday.
Holt was the subject of the 2013 documentary Dear Mom, Love Cher, which was produced by her daughter and chronicled the matriarch’s childhood in rural Arkansas and her six tumultuous marriages while she helped Cher pursue a music career. It also featured a duet between Holt and Cher and explored Holt’s own career as an actress and singer.
Margaret Norton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Cher and mom Georgia Holt
Holt began her career in the 1950s and had uncredited roles in the films A Life of Her Own, Watch the Birdie, Grounds for Marriage, Father’s Little Dividend, and Lovely to Look At. She then forayed into TV and made appearances in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, I Love Lucy, Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre, and The Lucy Show. In recent years, she made appearances as herself, including a 2014 guest judge stint on RuPaul’s Drag Race alongside grandson Chaz Bono.
Holt has released one album, 2013’s Honky Tonk Woman, which was recorded in 1980 with Elvis Presley’s musicians and re-mastered for commercial release following the release of Dear Mom, Love Cher.
“My mom is exactly like Rocky,” Cher previously told EW of the matriarch. “She never gives up!”
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