When Cher demanded her longtime designer whip up 20 costumes ASAP for her upcoming tour, he said he’s too busy – and now she’s heartbroken.
But a source says Emmy-winning costumer Bob Mackie, 73, simply couldn’t handle the stress of keeping her happy anymore.
“Bob and Cher have clashed in the past, but her latest tour pushed him over the edge,” celebrity biographer Mark Bego, who’s written two books on Cher, told The ENQUIRER.
“Cher is a demanding perfectionist, and Bob’s a consummate professional who hates to work under pressure.
He’s done all of Cher’s costumes from her days on ‘The Sonny & Cher Show’ back in the ’70s up to her last tour, so she expected Bob to succumb to her tight schedule demands at the last minute.
“Instead, he told her ‘no.’
” now Cher, 67, is moaning that she’s been kicked to the curb by the flamboyant costumer.
“Telling you something that has broken my heart,” the Oscar winner wrote on her Twitter page March 13.
“The man who made all my costumes since 1972 decided he couldn’t do my last tour. “No matter how disappointed any of u are, you don’t know my grief. I’m sure Bob can’t know how much I miss him. Felt I had to tell u I’m crying.”
One insider says that the diva is not only sad – she’s also fuming.
“Cher feels that Bob has completely abandoned her in her time of need,” explained the insider. Mackie created Cher’s most iconic looks, including her jaw-dropping Oscar outfits in 1986 and 1987.
But he refused to sign on for her upcoming tour, ironically called “Dressed to Kill.” “
The truth is, at 73, Bob simply wasn’t up to making 20 or more elaborate outfits for Cher,” said a source. “It was just too daunting and she’s too demanding for him to deal with at this stage of his life.”
Mackie told a reporter: “Nobody wanted to design this last tour more than I did. (But) my professional and business commitments were just too great.
“After all these years of collaborating, it is like turning down your own little sister, and how many guys have a little sister like Cher.”
