Cher thinks her son's decision to appear on 'Dancing with the Stars' is as scary as his sex change.

The 'Believe' singer joked that Chaz Bono - who was born a girl but underwent gender reassignment surgery - is lacking the right moves for when he appears on 'Dancing with the Stars', which starts on September 19.

In a surprise phone call to 'The Ellen DeGeneres' show - on which Chaz was appearing as a guest - Cher joked: "I got to tell you something. You doing this dance is about as scary as you making the 'change.'"

She also defended her son against people who have objected to him appearing on 'Dancing with the Stars', some of whom have stated they will boycott the programme simply because he is competing.

Cher said: "If you've got that excess time and that amount of hostility, I'm not so sure I can say anything to you that would make you change your feelings.

"I don't know that I would have any magic words to make you feel more comfortable and to soothe you into not being terrified of my child dancing on 'Dancing with the f***ing Stars'."

Chaz also talked about his nerves over his forthcoming performances with dancing partner Lacey Schwimmer.

He said: "My first dance is pretty good, the Cha-Cha. The Quickstep gives me nightmares, but I'm starting to feel pretty confident. We did it for some of the other people on the show today, and they seem to really like it."