Though Cher and Sonny Bono’s marriage lasted less than a decade, their musical hits endured. Yet Cher details in her new memoir that the success of her creative partnership with her late husband wasn’t equally shared.

I figured I’d plead insanity … Then I’d get a book deal and my own show,” Cher alleges Sonny told her after admitting to thinking about killing her.

In her newly released book, Cher: The Memoir — Part One, the 78-year-old singer compared meeting Bono in November 1962 to “Maria and Tony in West Side Story ,” writing that “everyone else in the room faded” after they crossed paths.