Even after decades of an endlessly turbulent personal life, Cher is not a superstar who seems plagued by self-doubt.
“I've always taken risks… This is WHO I am,” she bluntly exclaimed on social media just over a year ago as fans raged over her decision to pursue a relationship with 36-year-old music producer Alexander Edwards. who is 40 years younger than her.
And the 77-year-old singer and actress has certainly taken another chance with another man. Only this time, Elijah Blue Allman is her 47-year-old son.
Cher has asked the Los Angeles Superior Court to become the sole conservator of Allman, her son from musician Greg Allman's second husband, because of his alleged substance abuse and mental health issues.
According to the legal documents, she believes he cannot care for himself or “manage his own financial resources.”
Cher has petitioned the Los Angeles Superior Court to become sole conservator of her 47-year-old Elijah Blue Allman, her son from musician Greg Allman's second husband
Cher and Elijah Blue Allman during Filmex '77 at Century Plaza in Los Angeles
She claims she was unable to “discuss Elijah's preferences regarding the appointment of a temporary conservator” because he was “unable to formulate or express a preference” due to his “mental and physical health issues.”
Any money he gets, she adds, “is immediately spent on drugs, leaving Elijah with no assets to support himself and putting Elijah's life in danger.”
A court-ordered guardianship, which may give her control not only of his wallet but also of many decisions in his personal life, is “urgently needed.”
Cher also revealed that Elijah does not own any property of his own but instead earns $120,000 a year from a trust fund set up by his father.
Cher is a master at reinventing her career, but her image as a rambling, protective mother is certainly quite a change from what her children have previously said about her maternal instincts.
Her transgender son Chaz, son of allegedly abusive first husband Sonny Bono, once darkly remarked, “My mother didn't comfort me with kisses and caresses. It wasn't the family way.”
Elijah, on the other hand, told the Chron in 2014 that parental support was “not one of her strengths” during his serious health issues.
Still, she's certainly taking a significant risk by seeking guardianship of an adult child, given the stink that arose when Britney Spears' father did the same.
Cher also revealed that Elijah does not own any property of his own but instead earns $120,000 a year from a trust fund set up by his father. Pictured: Elijah backstage at Solid Gold in 1984
Under California law, Jamie Spears was able to assume almost complete control of his troubled pop star daughter's personal life, career and $60 million for nearly 14 years after convincing a court that she couldn't handle it.
A judge ended the agreement in November 2021 following an outcry from her fans and Britney's testimony in court that she was drugged, forced to perform and even prevented from having children as part of the “abusive” agreement
Unlike the widely reviled Jamie Spears, Cher at least cannot be accused of naked selfishness and stealing her offspring's hard-earned fortune, as Spears denies.
However, the Spears case highlighted the enormous power of the conservatorship system, and critics claimed that it did not justify the associated loss of freedom, regardless of Britney's problems.
By her own admission, Cher may not have showered her children with conventional maternal doting as she struggled to maintain one of the most enduringly successful careers in show business, but the tough love of a conservatorship would be entirely in keeping with her take-no-prisoners attitude to her reputation .
Three months ago, she was accused of hiring four men to “kidnap” Elijah from a New York hotel room in November 2022 to get him help with his addiction.
Cher dismissed the kidnapping claim as a “rumor,” adding that she wouldn't admit it if she had ordered one. She said, “I'm a mother.” “That's my job in one way or another, to help my children.”
Cher and Greg Allman with their 10-week-old baby son Elijah Blue Allman in Los Angeles
She seems particularly determined to keep her son away from his British wife Marieangela (Angie) King, 36. They married in 2013 but separated in 2021 when Elijah filed for divorce citing “irreconcilable differences.”
King was born in India to British and German parents and is reportedly a cousin of former chancellor George Osborne.
Cher's filing states that King, who met Elijah on a blind date, cannot be his caregiver because “their tumultuous relationship was marked by a cycle of drug addiction and mental health crises” and that King “is not supportive of Elijah's recovery.”
King and Elijah remain legally married. In October, she filed a statement of claim saying they had agreed to stay the divorce proceedings, but she hadn't seen him for six months. King complained at the time that his mother was “interfering” with Elijah’s health care.
While Britney Spears' vehement opposition to her conservatorship only emerged over the years, Elijah already posted on Instagram about “imprisonment through conservatorship.”
In a comment through his attorney, he declined to say whether he planned to oppose his mother's petition at a hearing scheduled for next month.
He has made no secret of his instinctive rebellion and his difficult relationship with Cher. He and King eloped ten years ago after his mother ignored their engagement.
Elijah Blue Allman poses with his wife Angie King at his home in Beverly Hills
He later told the Mail: “I've always been the black sheep of my family. “The reason for that is that we just have different value systems and a different mentality and that often conflicts.”
He said he and his mother did not speak for several years after he formed his own hardcore rock band, Deadsy, with school friends in the mid-1990s.
Cher divorced Elijah's father in 1979 – just four years after their marriage – because she couldn't cope with his heroin addiction.
The Allman Brothers Band singer died in 2017 from liver cancer, having almost completely disappeared during Elijah's childhood.
Cher's determination to keep her children away from drugs failed miserably. Her older son, Chaz Bono, also struggles with substance abuse.
Elijah, who said he grew up with some of his mother's famous friends – like Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise – as father figures, claims he started using cannabis at the age of 11 and bought drugs in Harlem on weekends in his mother's house in Manhattan returned from boarding school.
Recounting a familiar story of tormented Hollywood scions, he told the Mail that his mother's “superstar” deserved much of the blame for her family problems by overshadowing her children and forcing Cher to prioritize making money.
He added: “I think this is too big for anyone (celebrity) to escape.”
He was sent to boarding school at the age of seven, a decision that left him feeling like his mother had “shunned” him and said she once “punished” him for his misbehavior at school by casting him for a I was sent to a strict military academy for a year.
Cher's older son, Chaz Bono, has also struggled with substance abuse. Pictured: Cher, Chaz and Elijah in 1981
In later life he was romantically linked to celebrities Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, as well as actresses Heather Graham and Kate Hudson.
He said his drug problem worsened when he began touring with his band, claiming: “I smoked drugs (heroin), took a lot of pills, every painkiller we could get and drank.”
When asked if Cher had been a good mother, he said: “She had her moments and I know she tried.” . I know it’s a real regret, a real thing that haunts her for sure.”
Cher has admitted that her children “paid” for her fame, telling Vanity Fair in 2010, “I did my best, and yet it was definitely lacking.”
In the same interview, she also admitted how much drug abuse had overshadowed her family, saying: “It's strange because both of my children had the same drug problems as their fathers – the same drug of choice.”
“My father was a heroin addict and my sister's father was an alcoholic. “But it blew our minds.”
Not that she avoided drugs for “moral reasons,” she emphasized. “I tried a few medications, but I never felt so good that I lost control. “I have the constitution of a fruit fly.”
Cher has never been afraid to avoid men who cause trouble. She is now faced with a challenge that she, as a difficult friend, cannot easily escape.