Cher has reportedly filed for conservatorship of son Elijah Allman amid his alleged battle with substance abuse.
In documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by TMZ on Wednesday, December 27, Cher, 77, claims that Allman, 47, is “substantially unable to manage his own financial resources due to severe mental health and substance abuse issues.”
Cher shares Elijah, 47, with ex-husband Gregg Allman, who died at the age of 69 in 2017 after battling cancer. According to the documents filed on Wednesday, Cher is concerned that Elijah, who is set to receive assets from a trust Gregg set up before his death, will be “spent on drugs,” leaving his “life at risk.”
The filing also states that Elijah’s estranged wife, Marieangela King, is not fit to be his conservator because “their tumultuous relationship has been marked by a cycle of drug addiction and mental health crises,” per People. Instead, Cher believes she would be the best person to manage her son’s conservatorship, as she has “worked tirelessly to get Elijah into treatment and get him the help he needs” but has “always acted with his best interests in mind.”
A hearing date of March 6, 2024, has been set by the court to evaluate the potential conservatorship.
Cher’s filing comes on the heels of King, 36, accusing the pop icon of trying to kidnap Elijah last year. In a legal declaration obtained by Us Weekly in October, King claimed that she and Elijah were attempting to reconcile their relationship in November 2022 after separating the year prior. According to King, the twosome were in a hotel in New York on November 30, 2022, when four people came to their room and “removed” Elijah.
Cher was not mentioned by name, but King alleged that “one of the four men who took” Elijah told her “they were hired by petitioner’s mother.” (The “petitioner” is Elijah, who filed for divorce from King in 2021 after eight years of marriage.)
King also claimed that she has been told she is “not allowed to see or speak to” Elijah, who was “locked down” at a “treatment facility that is undisclosed” without access to his phone.
The documents, which were filed in December 2022, also alleged that Elijah, who has struggled with heroin addiction, had been in treatment since August 2022. King claimed that in his absence, she was asked by Cher to “leave our family home” in Beverly Hills and was “not allowed to retrieve all my belongings from our primary home and residence, nor was I given the opportunity to inventory our assets.”
King also claimed that while awaiting additional spousal support payments, she allegedly lost her housing and healthcare and “had to leave the country to stay with relatives for a while.”
Following King’s allegations, Cher denied the accusations in a statement, telling People in October, “That rumor is not true.”
Cher and Gregg, who tied the knot in 1975, welcomed Elijah in July 1976. Cher also shared son Chaz, 54, with first husband Sonny Bono, who died from a ski accident at age 62 in 1998.
