CHER STEPS IN
‘Cher is concerned that any funds distributed to Elijah will be immediately spent on drugs . . . putting his life at risk’
MEDDLING motherin-law or concerned parent? Singer CHER has been labelled both after she tried, and failed, to win temporary conservatorship over her son ELIJAH BLUE ALLMAN (47) amid his ongoing substance abuse. Cher (77) argued that giving her youngest son access to the $10 000 (R180 000) he gets every month from a trust his father, the late musician Gregg Allman, set up for him, would be a danger to his recovery. In court documents Cher voices her fears that Elijah, who has a long history of substance abuse, will spend all the money on drugs and is not in the right mental space to manage his finances.
“Elijah is entitled to regular distributions from the trust but given his ongoing mental health and substance abuse issues, [Cher] is concerned that any funds distributed to Elijah will be immediately spent on drugs, leaving Elijah with no assets to provide for himself and putting Elijah’s life at risk,” it reads. The Los Angeles Superior Court judge was not persuaded and ruled that Cher had not given Elijah and his lawyers enough time to prepare for the court order.
Instead of the usual five-day notice required, Elijah and his team were given only 24 hours and Cher refused to share confidential information with him about the case.
Cher’s attempt at conservatorship comes more than a year after she allegedly kidnapped him from a hotel room, where he was staying with his estranged wife, Marieangela “Queeny” King, to send him to rehab.
In the court documents, she claims that Marieangela, from whom Elijah separated in 2020, has been a negative influence on Elijah’s recovery and claims that she tried to check him out of rehab.
In a statement released by her record label, Marieangela lambasted Cher, saying that in the 10 years of their marriage her mother-inlaw “habitually bulldozed over and repeatedly undermined her” when it came to decisions concerning Elijah’s wellbeing.
The couple married in 2013 and in 2021 Elijah filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences but after Cher’s court appeal he filed to dismiss the divorce proceedings.
“While I understand that my mother, the proposed conservator, believes she is looking out for my best interests and I appreciate her love and support, I do not need her unsolicited help or support at this time,” Elijah said in his responding court papers.