Cher praises Adam RIppon in essay for the Time 100

Time Magazine’s annual list of the hundred most influential people of the year has come out – and it has more LGBT+ activists, artists, journalists, and leaders than ever before. On the list is Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, who used his platform to speak out against Mike Pence, and had his entry written by Cher.

Cher praised his “humility, grace and incredible sense of humour”, admiring him as “very brace”.

“When I was young, I had no role models—everyone looked like Sandra Dee and Doris Day.” Cher writes. “There was nobody who made me think, Oh, I could be like them. They represent me. Adam shows people that if you put blood, sweat and tears into what you’re doing, you can achieve something that’s special. You can be special. And I think that’s very brave.

“You could see in the leather-harness suit he wore to the Academy Awards that he isn’t afraid to take chances. It wasn’t about the suit, really. It was about the fact that he dares to be different in a world where being different always comes with a cost. I thought it was fabulous, of course.”

The Time 100 also featured trans actress Daniela Vega, journalist Ronan Farrow, painter Kehinde Wiley, and the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.

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