Cher Recalls Taking a Stranger's Horse and Hopping a Freight Train at Age 9: 'Could've Gotten Killed'

Cher told the story on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' and noted that her mom, Georgia Holt, thought the adventure "was cool"

Cher's always been ready to take a risk — even as a child.

During an interview on the Nov. 18 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the 78-year-old Goddess of Pop opened up about the history of her "fearlessness" and recalled the time she took a stranger's horse and hopped a freight train at age 9.

"I don’t know exactly where I got my fearlessness from because it was kind of… I don’t know. I didn’t know how to do it any other way," she said. "But also, when I was 9 years old I took a horse and hopped a freight train."

Related: Cher Reveals 'Unbelievably Handsome' Warren Beatty, Then 25, Kissed Her the First Time They Met When She Was 15

Cher insisted she "didn't steal" the horse but rather "borrowed" it. However, she didn't know the owner. "No, I just rode it to the end of the fences, and then I saw a freight train, and I thought, 'That’s a good idea,'" she recalled.

The "Believe" singer, who was with a friend at the time, "didn't really know" what was in store upon boarding the train. "Of course, we could've gotten killed," she quipped.

"We went to Santa Ana, I think," said Cher, "and then when it got dark my friend got scared."

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Realizing the adventure was coming to an end, the Moonstruck star called her late mom, Georgia Holt, from the train. "My mom thought it was cool," she explained. "The only thing she was upset about was that I threw my lunch pale away."

Cher opens up about her life and career in her new memoir, Cher: The Memoir: Part One, out now. Elsewhere in the Tonight Show interview, she got candid about the difficulty of writing the book: "It was a bitch."

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"It's not going through your life that's hard so much, but I did it a couple times because the first time it didn't work out," she said. "The second time, I just didn't want to tell anything, and then I thought, 'You know what? Give back the money.'"

"It's hard because when you're telling your life there's parts you'd like to guard," added Cher. "And I just thought, 'I have to tell everything.'"