Music superstar Cher released her very first Christmas album this year, but the singer is now making headlines for her personal life and relationship with her youngest son. After being accused earlier in 2023 of arranging for her son, Elijah Blue Allman, to be kidnapped, documents reveal that she has filed for a conservatorship over his assets.
The Kidnapping Allegations
In September 2023, Variety reported court documents accusing Cher of hiring four men to kidnap Elijah Blue Allman from a hotel room in New York on his wedding anniversary for an intervention. The alleged incident was said to take place in November 2022 and became public during the divorce proceedings between Allman – the singer's son her late former husband Gregg Allman – and wife Marie Angela King. King claimed that one man told her that they were hired by Cher.
The Hollywood it girl didn't comment on the allegations at the time, but she dismissed the claim to People by stating "that rumor is not true" just weeks later, in October 2023. She didn't comment further on the kidnapping allegation, but did confirm that the family was dealing with Allman's ongoing struggles with substance abuse. She noted that it's her job "one way or another, to try to help my children" and "whenever you can help them, you just do it because that's what being a mother is."
Cher Files For Conservatorship
Now, just over two months after Cher dismissed the allegations about having Elijah Blue Allman kidnapped for an intervention, Variety cites court documents detailing a filing for conservatorship from mother to son. The filing is specifically for her to serve as temporary conservator for her son, who is currently 47 years old. The documents state that Allman is "currently unable to manage his assets due to severe mental health and substance abuse issues," including distributions from the trust fund that had been arranged by his late father.
The documents further state that 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" and that she has "always acted with his best interests in mind." At the time of writing, there is no news of a ruling for her conservatorship filing.
Interestingly, Cher – who is currently just a Tony Award away from achieving EGOT status – spoke out about conservatorships previously, when she addressed Britney Spears' situation back in October. Spears famously went through the lengthy process of being released from a conservatorship controlled by her father, Jamie Spears, which was confirmed in 2021 but continued to make headlines in following years. In October 2023, Cher said this to Extra:
I don't think it was right what her father did... It seemed to serve him. No matter the help that she needed, and needs, if she's still needing it... No matter what, you love your children and sometimes you have to step in. I didn't like it, so I wanted to let her know that I was watching and I was listening.
Cher has yet to publicly comment on the news of her filing for conservatorship over her son. Elijah Blue Allman is the second of her two children, with writer/musician/actor Chaz Bono as her elder son with late first husband Sonny Bono. While details are scarce at this point, we can only hope for the best for everybody involved in what appears to be a very complicated family situation.
