Cher explains how she and Sonny Bono buried the hatchet before he died

Cher and her ex-husband Sonny Bono didn’t have a great relationship after they divorced in 1975. But as Cher tells People in a new interview, they were able to make up before Sonny’s tragic death — because he finally apologized to her.

“He p***** me off royally and hurt me,” Cher tells People. But one day, she says, “He came into the kitchen at my house and said, ‘Cher, I want to apologize. I realized that I hurt you in so many ways, and I was wrong.’ That went a long way for me.”

“The fact that he came and said it meant something to me, that at least he acknowledged that he had been hurtful,” she explains.

Cher and Sonny married in 1964 and share son Chaz, 54. Sonny died in a skiing accident in 1998 at age 62; Cher dedicated her 1998 album, Believe, to him.

Despite their marital problems, Cher maintains that she and Sonny “had so much fun together,” both in their music career and on their variety show, which aired from 1971 to 1974.

“Working together was the easiest part of it, because we really made each other laugh,” she says. “You can’t fake that kind of stuff.”

Cher’s new holiday album, Christmas, will arrive October 20.