Cher believes in life after love, and she believes in second chances for troubled starlets. Recently, the legendary diva found herself on the receiving end of one of Amanda Bynes's trademark Twitter rants. Bynes, like the middle school girl she apparently is, called 67-year-old Cher "ugly" and "a flop." Here's where it gets good: When a fan asked Cher if she was insulted by Amanda Bynes' comments, she responded, "Who's that?"
As it turns out, Cher wasn't being bitchy; she legitimately never heard of the She's All That star. Bynes, naturally, was unable to fathom the idea that she was less famous than Cher, and immediately replied, "This is my Twitter. I say whatever I want. Thanks!"
It would have been pretty easy (and publicity-friendly) for Cher to get into an all-out Twitter war with Bynes. Instead, she took the classy route and opted out—even apologizing for accidentally insulting her.
"You got That One Right! Sorry about shade, Sweet-Heart, it was unintentional...Promise," wrote Cher. (All the related tweets by both parties have now been removed.)
On Saturday, the singer explained her apology to E! News.
"I never understood the thing about not saying you're sorry because it's so easy... it doesn't take any time and it just dissolves all the bad feelings," she said.
As for the Twitter mean girls like Bynes, Cher said she prefers to think of herself as "kind of like a mother" to them.
"Sex didn't kill you when I was young and people weren't trying to blow up buildings," Cher told the network. "I feel a lot of compassion for these young kids that are growing up that don't really understand exactly what's going on. It's really rough. That's why I do a lot of tweeting... It's something that gives them a little insight into things and it doesn't make them think that all grownups are the enemy."
Has so much compassion and forgiveness ever been applied to Twitter? Not by Amanda Bynes, who seems determined to pick a tweet-fight with anyone whose name pops into her head. Recent victims of her oh-so-clever "ugly" insult include former co-star Zac Efron ("@zacefron has an ugly face"), her ex-boyfriend Kid Cudi ("Scott Mescudi is the only ugly guy that I've dated"), her dream man Drake (@drake looks like an ugly old woman"), his mother ("The only person uglier than @drake is his mom"), her sister ("My Sister Jillian Has An Ugly Face Don't Worry Drake"), and her own mother. And then, as if to make up for it, she tweets pseudo-nice stuff like this:
Drake Is The Man Of My Dreams— Amanda Bynes (@AmandaBynes) June 28, 2013
I Know I Love Drake Because If He Got Parkinson's Or Got Into Some Sort Of Accident & He Looked Different He'd Still Be The Only One I Want— Amanda Bynes (@AmandaBynes) June 28, 2013
Sorry, Amanda, but this act is getting old. Cher, on the other hand, will never be old. Time to return some of the respect she gave you!
Donna Kaufman is a freelance writer and iVillage contributor. Find her on Twitter.
A version of this story originally appeared on iVillage.