Cher Handled a Real-Life ‘Pretty Woman’ Shopping Moment in the Most Iconic Way

Cher might have one of the most iconic wardrobes of all time, but the star is opening up about experiencing a Pretty Woman moment in real life during her early career days. When a snobby Beverly Hills saleswoman tried to turn her away during a shopper trip, the performer reveals in her book, Cher: The Memoir, Part 1, the iconic way she ultimately got the last word in.

In her tell-all memoir, which was released on Nov. 19, Cher revealed that before she was known as the Goddess of Pop, she was dismissed by a sales associate when she tried to buy a “psychedelic” pantsuit near Rodeo Drive, per People. Fresh off the success of her and Sonny Bono’s 1965 hit single “I Got You Babe,” as well as “Baby Don’t Go” one year earlier, the up-and-coming star was shopping in Beverly Hills when the piece–”an amazing pantsuit with a psychedelic check pattern and a big red stripe down the front”–caught her eye.

Determined to buy it, Cher stepped into the store and asked a salesman how much it was—and received her Vivian Ward treatment. “She took one look at me, said, ‘It’s very expensive, miss,’ and turned and walked away,” Cher wrote, per People. 

Not to be dissuaded, Cher said she asked who designed the piece, and the associate doubled down on her rudeness, emphasizing that it was “very expensive.”

“She was so dismissive of me in my little crop top and bell-bottom pants that I lost patience,” she recalled in the memoir. However, instead of leaving the store and coming back with an arsenal of shopping bags à la Pretty Woman, the “Believe” singer decided to teach the employee a lesson and score the gorgeous pantsuit.

Cher revealed that she said that she would buy the “expensive” outfit in “every shade” (there were three available), leaving the saleswoman to eat her words. The entertainer admitted that while the bill was “more than I ever thought anyone could pay for anything,” she had no regrets about how she handled the situation. “It was worth it to see the look on that bitch’s face,” she wrote.