All eyes on Cher on Capitol Hill

She attended hearing on effectiveness of soldiers’ helmets

	Cher embraces Dr. Bob Meaders prior to a House Armed Service Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on June 15 on the use of combat helmets, vehicle armor and body armor by ground forces in Iraq.
Dennis Cook / AP

Celebrity video

Halderman’s attorney: This was not blackmail
Nov. 11: The lawyer for David Letterman’s accused blackmailer, Joe Halderman, has asked the judge to throw out the case. TODAY’s Meredith Vieira talks to Halderman’s lawyer, Gerald Shargel, and Letterman’s lawyer, Daniel Horwitz, about the developments.

Prejean talks sex tape

Alicia Keys uses voice for the voiceless

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar fighting leukemia

Accused Letterman extortionist says he was selling screenplay

Alicia Keys: 'I had to help. And I did'

Slideshow

Best and worst celebrity fashions of 2009
From glamorous gowns to stylish suits to complete fashion failures, a look at the year so far.

more photos

updated 7:30 p.m. ET June 15, 2006

WASHINGTON - The subject was whether to modify helmets for soldiers in Iraq, but all eyes were on Cher.

As photographers clicked away, the singer and actress entered a Capitol Hill hearing room through a back door 20 minutes after the session was scheduled to start. The hearing soon got under way.

Cher has donated more than $130,000 to the group Operation Helmet, which pays about $100 to modify the inside of soldiers’ helmets to make them better able to absorb shock from a bomb blast.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

Cher, wearing a white lace top under a black pant suit, looked solemn as she sat behind the group’s founder, Dr. Bob Meaders, while he testified. Meaders said she didn’t want to cause a distraction by testifying herself.

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, noted that Cher’s ex-husband, the late Rep. Sonny Bono, had served on the subcommittee. He called it a “special irony and really great tribute” to have her there.

The Army now equips its soldiers with padded helmets designed to be shock absorbent. The Marine Corps has commissioned a study to determine whether to change its helmets but has said the ones Marines use now are effective.