Cher Says She and Meryl Streep Once Saved a Woman Who Was Being Assaulted

Meryl Streep and Cher, two of Hollywood’s most iconic heroes, are apparently literal heroes too. According to Cher, they once stopped an assault in real life.

The Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again costars have actually been friends for decades, and Cher recently sat down with James Corden on The Late Late Show to talk about the upcoming flick (which premieres July 20). During their chat, Cher also let it slip that she and Streep once saved a woman who was being assaulted. “Meryl had just had Mamie [Gummer, who was born in 1983], and we were downtown in her old apartment, and she said, ‘I want some ice cream,’ and I said, ‘OK,’” Cher told Corden, noting that at the time she had some concerns about the two of them walking around alone in Streep’s neighborhood.

“I said, ‘Isn’t it dangerous down here?’ And [Meryl] said, ‘No no, it’s Little Italy on one side and Chinatown on the other side and we’ll be safe as two peas in a pod,'” the Believe singer continued. “And so we walk out and the first thing we see is some guy hitting cars with a brick. And then we walk down the street and we hear screaming. And we come around the corner, and this gigantic man is ripping the clothes off of this girl.”

Instead of running away, Cher said, she and Streep sprang into action. “Meryl starts screaming, and I start screaming, and we run toward this gigantic man and he turns and starts running toward us. And just out of—I don’t know—we split and he ran through us,” Cher said. “And so we went up to the girl, and all of her clothes were torn and she was clutching her bag. So we’re putting her together, kind of trying to get her to look like she hadn’t just been ravaged, and she looks at us, and she goes, ‘Oh my God! I was saved by Meryl Streep and Cher. I’m an actress, and I work in a café where we sing, and all my friends are going to be so jealous.'”

Watch Cher recall this story for yourself in the video above.