8 reasons why Cher, coming to the Borgata, is a boss

This weekend, Cher brings her "Classic Tour" to the Event Center at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City. These two sold-out shows mark the Goddess of Pop's first time performing at the Borgata and a legendary return to Atlantic City.

With a role in the summer hit Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! and an album due this September of ABBA covers, it feels as if Cher is absolutely everywhere this year.

In celebration of the Goddess of Pop, we list eight reasons why the woman born Cherilyn Sarkisian is the baddest of all time, and why in 2018, nothing seems to be stopping her from continuing the glorious and opulent reign of Cher.

When network executives saw Sonny and Cher's chemistry on The Merv Griffin Show in 1971, they decided to give them a variety show. The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour was a massive hit, sometimes luring 30 million weekly viewers during the three years it was broadcast.

At the height of the show's popularity, the toy company Mego released Sonny and Cher dolls. Understandably, kids couldn't wait to get their hands on the fashionable and stylish Cher doll. The miniature version of the singer ended up being the highest-selling doll of 1976, surpassing Barbie. (Opens eBay …)

In a 1996 interview with Jane Pauley that has gone viral in recent years, Cher schools everyone on the absurd idea of "needing" a man. Pauley quizzes the singer on something she once said — "A man is not a necessity, a man is a luxury." The journalist asks Cher if she said that to sound "mean and bitter." She had the best response: "I adore dessert. I think men are the coolest, but you don't really need them to live," she begins. Next, Cher gives us the best Cher anecdote of all time, adding, "My mom said to me, 'Honey, you need to settle down and marry a rich man,' and I said to her, `Mom, I am a rich man.' " Icon.

In 2011, Cher became the only artist in history to have a No. 1 song on a Billboard chart for six consecutive decades. She topped the Hot 100 in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s, the Adult Contemporary chart in the 1980s, and the Dance/Club Play Songs chart in the 2000s and 2010s.

Cher has won an Academy Award, a Grammy, an Emmy, a special CFDA Fashion Award, three Golden Globes, a Cannes Film Festival award, and a Billboard Lifetime Achievement award, among other honors. One of the awards she doesn't have is a Tony, but that could all change after the musical based on her life and work, The Cher Show, comes to Broadway this winter, featuring Margate's Micaela Diamond and Meadowbrook's Jarrod Spector in lead roles.

Cher will be one of the recipients to receive this year's Kennedy Center Honors, the annual Washington distinction for artists who have made extraordinary contributions to culture. Reba McEntire, Philip Glass, Wayne Shorter, and the Broadway musical Hamilton will also receive the special honor.

"I believe that this is a work that has transformed how we think about using art to talk about who we are as a society," Deborah F. Rutter, the president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, said in an interview with the New York Times.

In a statement through the Kennedy Center, Cher said: "When I was very young, I saw Dumbo and Cinderella and knew then what I wanted to be and the path my life would take and here I am! I am very grateful to the Kennedy Center."

While accepting her Billboard Lifetime Achievement award last year, Cher revealed that at 71 years old, she was as fit as ever. "I've wanted to do what I do since I was 4 years old," Cher said, "and I've been doing it for 53 years. … I'm 71 yesterday, so… yes, and I can do a five-minute plank, OK? Just saying."

Cher has been one of President Trump's loudest adversaries, using her preferred platform — Twitter — to speak out against the White House and its policies. During an interview with the Herald Sun in Australia, Cher said: "They don't want people to have Medicare, a million things. He's now trying to get rid of food stamps and give people a box with canned meat and no vegetables or fruits. That I will come out against with everything I have. I was in all the marches. I was in the march the night he became the president. I never call him the president, I call him 'trump,' all lower case. He's lowercase for me. He's a thug."

You may agree or disagree with her opinions, but one thing is for sure: You've got to respect a woman who doesn't hold back expressing what she feels, thinks, and believes in.

The year of Cher is upon us, and it feels as if it's only going to get more fabulous from here.