Pop star Cher has filed for a conservatorship of her son Elijah Blue Allman over claims that his life is “at risk” due to “severe mental health and substance abuse issues.”
The court documents, which were submitted to the Los Angeles Superior Court, said the conservatorship is “urgently needed” for Elijah, 47. Through her lawyers, Cher, 77, argued that her son cannot manage his financial resources or protect his property from loss or injury.
Cher has not commented publicly on the conservatorship.
Elijah has also not released a statement, though the BBC reported he made a social media post with the hashtag “#imprisonmentviaconservatorship.”
The documents for the proposed conservatorship said Elijah is entitled to regular distributions from a trust established by his late father, Gregg Allman. However, Cher is “concerned” that her son will spend the money on drugs, “leaving Elijah with no assets to provide for himself, and putting Elijah’s life at risk.”
Through her lawyers, Cher went on to argue that Elijah’s estranged wife, Marieangela King, is unfit to be his conservator. The legal filing cited “a cycle of drug addiction and mental health crises” as the reason.
Cher argued King, who is known professionally as Queenie, is “not supportive” of Elijah’s recovery. She claimed King “actively works to keep Elijah from getting clean and sober or receiving mental health treatment that he desperately needs.”
Cher said she has “worked tirelessly” to try and get Elijah into treatment. She concluded that she “loves Elijah immensely and has always acted with his best interests in mind.”
A hearing for a temporary order is scheduled for Jan. 5, 2024, with a hearing for a permanent order set for March 2024.
The request for a conservatorship comes after widespread reports claimed Cher hired four men to kidnap Elijah last year. King made the accusation in divorce documents filed in December 2022. She said Cher used the hired men to “remove” Elijah from a New York hotel room during their anniversary. King said, at the time, that she and Elijah were “working out our marriage” during a 12-day stay in New York.
In October, Cher denied the kidnapping allegations.
“I’m not suffering from any problem that millions of people in the United States aren’t,” Cher told People Magazine, seemingly in reference to addiction. “I’m a mother. This is my job — one way or another, to try to help my children. You do anything for your children. Whenever you can help them, you just do it because that’s what being a mother is. But it’s joy, even with heartache — mostly, when you think of your children, you just smile and you love them, and you try to be there for them.”
Cher and Gregg were married from 1975 to 1979. She was earlier married to Sonny Bono from 1964 to 1975.
The Grammy-winning singer has one other son from her marriage with Bono, 54-year-old Chaz Bono.
Cher is not the only person in Hollywood to use a conservatorship. Pop star Britney Spears was famously released from a conservatorship, held by her father Jamie Spears, in 2021. Both Britney and her dedicated fanbase celebrated the end of the conservatorship as a win for the superstar and her personal freedom.
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