Cher: Dying Star Finds New Life With Stripper Stud

Cher wants to go out with a bang – literally! The National ENQUIRER has exclusively learned the dying diva has hooked up with her boy toy from the 1990s. Although a near-fatal viral infection and other ailments have brought her close to death's door, Cher has twice rekindled the all-night-fun flame with her 49-year-old ex Mark Connolly, insiders dished.

“Cher may be 70, but every time I see Mark after an encounter with her, he needs a day or two to recover!” a spy exclusively tattled to The ENQUIRER. “Mark shows up beaten and bruised — and with bite marks all over his body!” The randy Oscar-winning “Moonstruck” star first met Mark back in the early 1990s — and the two began hooking up in February shortly after she launched her “Classic Cher” concert residency at the Park Theater in Las Vegas.

As The ENQUIRER has reported, the superstar entertainer struggled with numerous medical issues over the years, including the crippling Epstein-Barr virus, which she contracted in the late 1980s. She suffered the near fatal viral attack that landed her in the intensive care unit in November, 2014 — two months after she tweeted to fans, “This virus is a killer!”

More recently, Cher confessed that a “rotten flu” which forced her to cancel her Feb. 18 and 19 Vegas shows. While one longtime associate thinks Cher “may have bitten off more than she can chew” with her Vegas show, the “I Got You Babe” singer seems bent on chewing up and spitting out her hot, young lover!

“I’m told Cher still has a great body and Mark doesn’t even need a Viagra to get inspired!” the source blabbed to The ENQUIRER. Cradle-robbing Cher was 45 years old when she started a passionate, two-year fling with Mark, then a 24-year-old stripper and former $200-a-week auto transmission repairman.

In an exclusive 1993 interview, Mark told The ENQUIRER how he licked whipped cream and strawberries from her body after the wildcat singer stripped for him in a seedy X-rated motel room! “It was the last time Cher and I made love — and the wildest,” the baby-faced Mark gushed to The ENQUIRER — adding: “Cher’s the best lover I ever had. She gave me a night I’ll never forget if I live to be 100!”