Cher and her youngest son, Elijah Blue Allman, have been open about their complicated relationship over the years.
“He’s a really smart, really talented, really weird person,” Cher said gently Entertainment Weekly In 1999, Ilija. “He marches to his own drummer more than anyone I’ve ever met.”
Cher welcomed Elijah in 1976 with her then-husband Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. Elijah grew up aware of his mother’s fame, and part of his childhood included traveling the world with her when she was on tour.
“I did the best I could and still it was definitely lacking,” she said vanity fair in 2010, parenting in the spotlight.
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Although Elijah is now grown, Cher revealed that she has not stopped caring for her son.
“I am a mother. This is my job — one way or another, to try to help my kids,” Cher told PEOPLE in 2023. “Do everything for your kids. Whenever you can help them, just do it because that’s what being a mother is all about. But it’s a joy, even with the heartache – mostly, when you think of your children, you just smile and love them, and try to be there for them.”
In December 2023, Cher filed for temporary guardianship of her son’s estate due to Elijah’s alleged substance abuse and deteriorating mental health. According to documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by PEOPLE, Cher has asked to be Elijah’s sole guardian, claiming he is “grossly unable to manage his financial resources.”
Soon after that, Ilija filed an objection, and in May 2024, mother and son managed to agree on a temporary suspension of conservatorship through private mediation.
Here’s everything you need to know about Cher’s son, Elijah Blue Allman.
He is Cher’s youngest child
Cher and her son Elijah Blue Allman on September 23, 1977.
Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection/Getty
Cher and her second husband, Allman, welcomed their only child together, Elijah, on July 10, 1976, in California. His birth occurred about a year after Cher and Allman were married.
Elijah was the second child for the “Believe” singer, joining his older sibling, Chaz Bono, who was born in 1969 to Cher and her then-husband Sonny Bono. Elijah also has four siblings on his father’s side: Devon, Layla, Michael and Delilah.
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He is a musician
Cher’s son Elijah Blue Allman in concert at the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood, CA on September 13, 2002.
Kevin Winter/ImageDirect
Elijah started as a musician at a young age. After receiving his first guitar from KISS bassist Gene Simmons, he played the instrument in his mom’s 1989 music video for “If I Could Turn Back Time” at the age of 12.
After high school, Elijah followed in his parents’ footsteps and made his own way into the music industry. He credits Cher’s ex-boyfriend Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi with influencing his style.
“Richie and I would sit up all night and play guitar,” he said Daily mail 2014 “He would play me some really key stuff that shaped who I became as a musician.”
Elijah — who is known professionally as P. Exeter Blue — became a founding member of the metal band Deadsy. The group released two studio albums: Beginning in 2002 and Phantasmagore in 2006.
He has also collaborated with 30 Seconds to Mars, Sugar Ray, Coal Chamber and others.
He exhibited his art
Cher and her son Elijah Blue at the premiere of “Blow” on March 29, 2001.
Vince Bucci/Newsmakers/Getty
In addition to making music, Elijah has also created art in other media. In 2010, he curated an exhibition of step and repeat walls called “Stuff of Legends” at an art gallery in Malibu.
“I chose step and repeat because it is an embedded image. I would watch these things on the red carpet and I was fascinated by the triangulation between celebrities, consumers and the corporate complex,” he told the Huffington Post in 2010.
“I’m going to go deeper into what I’m capable of, I know what the first piece should look like and I’m very deliberate about what I’m creating right now. I’m very aware of the arc the work should take,” he added of his next projects.
He said he had Lyme disease
Cher and her son Elijah Blue Allman, circa 1986.
Robert Scott/Photos International/Getty
Elijah revealed in 2014 that he had been diagnosed with Lyme disease, an experience he called “much darker” than his struggle with addiction. He sought treatment from a doctor in Germany, where he met his now wife, musician Marieangela King.
“This then makes you look back at this horrible ordeal that you went through, which would lead you to meet the love of your life, and this is how crazy life is,” he told Party tonight in 2014.
He married Marieangela King in 2013
Elijah Blue Allman and Marieangela King attend the Alphabet Soup For Grown-Ups Book Launch Party at Bugatti on November 14, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.
Michael Bezjian/WireImage
After meeting in Germany in 2013, Elijah and King tied the knot in a private ceremony at their Beverly Hills home in December of that year. Cher was not present.
I wasn’t going to wait for anyone’s approval and congratulations just like I hadn’t waited for any of that all my life, he said Daily mail 2014. “The way I ran away with my wife is the same way I’ve done everything I’ve ever done. I don’t know any other way and we knew it was the right time.”
The couple went through difficult times in their marriage, including Elijah filing for divorce in 2021. King later stated that she and Elijah “worked on [their] marriage” in court documents filed in December 2022.
In October 2023, King also alleged in court documents that Cher continued to “interfere” with Elijah’s “health management as well as his location and accessibility.”
Elijah filed to dismiss the divorce in January 2024, but his request was denied shortly thereafter due to an ongoing custody hearing filed by Cher for control of Elijah’s estate.
The following month, his motion to dismiss the divorce was granted just days after a judge denied Cher’s emergency custody request because Allman proved he had “managed his finances” and “stayed drug-free” after failing multiple drug tests.
He made headlines because he was allegedly kidnapped
Cher and her son Elijah Blue Allman.
Bei/Shutterstock
Elijah made headlines in September 2023 when King’s claims that Cher hired four men to kidnap him came to light as part of their divorce proceedings.
In documents obtained by PEOPLE, King accused Burlesque star of hiring four men to kidnap Elijah from a New York hotel room because she was worried about her son’s well-being while the couple tried to reconcile their marriage. The alleged incident happened in late 2022, around the time of the couple’s ninth wedding anniversary.
According to the documents, King claimed that one of the men who took Elijah told her that Cher had hired them.
“I am not currently aware of my husband’s well-being or whereabouts. I am very concerned and worried about him,” she said in the documents. King added, “I understand his family’s efforts to make sure he’s OK and I want what’s best for my husband.”
In October 2023, Cher responded to the allegations, telling PEOPLE that “the rumor is not true” and declined to comment further.
He and his mom had a difficult relationship for years
Cher and her son Elijah Blue Allman. Collection of Jim Smeal/Ron Galella via Getty
Cher and Elijah spoke openly about the complicated nature of their mother-son relationship. “He and I have such a bizarre relationship. We had so many weird moments. I don’t really understand him. Somehow Elijah and I talk through osmosis,” she said in a guest appearance on Dr. Phil in 2004.
Elijah talked about feeling rejected as a child. “When you go to boarding school at the age of 7, it’s a bit difficult to feel that no one is avoiding you,” he told za Party tonight. “But I’m at an age where I’m okay with it because you just have to.”
He repeated that opinion in an interview for Daily mail 2014 “I’ve always been the black sheep in my family,” Elijah said. “The reason is that we just have different value systems and we just have a different mentality and it clashes a lot.”
Check out photos of Cher with her sons Chaz Bono and Elijah Blue Allman through the years
Cher and Elijah also had periods of estrangement. “It happened, but I’m not sure that parents and their children don’t all go through that,” the Grammy-winning singer said. Parade magazine in 2018. Cher also shared that Elijah was living with her at the time.
Cher filed for custody of Elijah
On December 27, 2023, Cher filed for custody of her son, claiming that Elijah is “currently unable to manage his assets due to severe mental health and addiction issues.”
A few days later, Elijah filed an objection, and Cher responded by filing an ex parte motion — claiming custody was “urgently needed.” The request was rejected by the judge.
In late January 2024, Elijah and King filed multiple court documents to oppose Cher’s request for custody.
“I’m fine and I don’t need the help my mother is offering,” Elijah wrote in one of his submissions, noting that he had reached 30 days of sobriety and reconciled with his wife.
King’s filing specifically states that she believes Cher is unfit to be in charge of Elijah’s estate.
“I believe that people from Elijah’s family are emotional triggers for him. I have witnessed and experienced abuse that mostly came from Elijah’s mother,” she wrote. “It is important that Elijah be surrounded by sober people who are part of the AA community – which most of his family members are not.”
On January 29, 2024, Cher’s ex parte motion was again reviewed by the judge, only to be denied a second time. However, the hearing revealed that Elijah was placed under several 5150 waiting lists in 2023.
Elijah restated his case against the conservator in April 2024.
“My mother’s petition raises the dual concern that I suffer from some mental illness and that I am living hand-to-mouth by using my trust distribution to buy drugs and putting myself in mortal danger. I have struggled with addiction, but I am not mentally ill,” he stated in court filings. “The only person who can save me from my demons is me – and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
Cher’s son continued: “My mother and I have had a strained relationship for years. My mother is 77 years old. I have seen her suffer from depression in the past and I do not believe she is capable of making appropriate decisions for my estate.”
As of May 2024, conservatorship has been temporarily suspended. According to documents obtained by PEOPLE, they agreed to “pause all legal proceedings and related activities, including all discovery and motion practices, to allow the parties to continue to work together to privately and confidentially resolve this matter.”
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