Inside Cher’s Strained Relationship With Her 'Black Sheep' Son Elijah

Sep 19, 2025 by apost team

Cher has been an icon for the majority of her life thanks to her exceptional talents as an actress and singer. As a member of the musical duo Sonny & Cher, Cher skyrocketed to pop stardom in the late 1960s and went on to achieve great success in the years to come. Much of Cher's private life has been made public, including her marriage to Sonny Bono and the life of their son, Chaz Bono. A lesser-known part of Cher's life is her second marriage and the birth of her second son, Elijah Blue Allman.

Cher got married to Gregg Allman, a known singer and songwriter for the Allman Brothers Band, in 1975. Before they divorced in 1979, the couple had one child together named Elijah, born July 10, 1976. While much has been made about Cher's relationship with Chaz, Elijah has had a rough time with it, feeling like the "black sheep" of the family. 

In 2023, Cher filed for a conservatorship over her son Elijah's estate as he suffered from drug abuse. However, Cher's seemingly good intentions met some pushback from Elijah himself, who claimed to be sober. Elijah's then-wife, Marieangela King, also opposed the singer's idea to manage her son's finances, claiming that she's "unfit" to do so. Read on to learn more about Elijah and the issue behind his conservatorship. 

In 2014, Elijah opened up to Entertainment Tonight about his rough childhood years, including being sent to boarding school at such a tender age. He recounted:

"When you go to boarding school at 7 years old, it's kind of hard to feel like you're not being shunned… But I'm at an age where I'm making peace with it because you just have to. But I still...it doesn't mean it's right. It's still wrong to do that."

He revealed to The Daily Mail that at one point, he was even "punished" for misbehaving by being sent to military school for one year. Later in life, Elijah would pick up a drug habit, but his hard-partying ways ended when he was diagnosed with Lyme disease. While he described the condition as a "hideous ordeal," it came with a silver lining. While seeking treatment in Germany, he became acquainted with the woman he would one day marry.

Elijah eloped with King, an English singer, on Dec. 1, 2013. Cher was not aware of their marriage. However, Elijah told the outlet that it was the way he wanted it to be:

"I've always been the black sheep of my family. The reason being we just have different value systems and we just have a different mentality and that clashes a lot. We have lots of ups and downs and right now isn't the best time."

After the wedding, he said that while other family members congratulated him, his mother did not. Despite the rocky start to his marriage, Elijah and King moved in with Cher. However, the move did not go as planned, and Elijah and Cher stopped speaking for months after they moved out. 

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Elijah told Entertainment Tonight:

"In due time I'm sure that has to happen. Anything like that always has to happen at an organic pace, so for me right now the priority in my life is just kind of coming back to the land of the living."

He revealed that Cher and his wife "clashed" a few times. Despite their tumultuous relationship, Elijah said that he was committed to working through his differences with Cher. He added:

"We've got some more to go, but when you're an adult, you take on a different sort of tone than when you're an adolescent and I'm not going to sit in an adolescent's kind of a mind frame because that'll affect me negatively in my own life when I start my own family, so you got no choice if you want to be a balanced person, but to ultimately heal." 

Elijah had high hopes for a reconciliation. He told The Daily Mail:

"(Cher's) had her moments and I know she's tried, I think it's a very complex situation that historically has never made for a good parent (fame). I don't think it's anything she doesn't know or hasn't acknowledged. I know it's a real regret, a real thing that for sure haunts her. I definitely know that the intent has been genuine. It'll be mended because it has to be, it will just take time. We've never really dealt with our things from the past, but hopefully we will." 

Unbeknownst to many, Elijah has since been suffering from drug abuse. Page Six reported on Dec. 27, 2023, that Cher filed for a conservatorship over her son. Documents obtained by the outlet revealed that the singer is expressing concerns that her son cannot take care of himself properly or "manage his own financial resources" because of his alleged struggles with drug abuse. 

Cher argued in her December 2023 filing that her son was unable to care for himself or manage his finances due to substance abuse. She warned that "any funds distributed to Elijah will immediately be spent on drugs, leaving Elijah with no assets to provide for himself, and putting Elijah's life at risk." Elijah, however, pushed back. In January 2024, he told The Daily Mail he had been "clean and sober… for over 90 days" and was "fully capable of and committed to managing" his trust fund. While acknowledging his mother's concern, he said he did not need her "unsolicited help" and suggested that if a conservator were necessary, it should be his wife, King.

King, whose relationship with Cher has long been strained, strongly opposed the conservatorship in filings obtained by Page Six. She argued that Cher's interference would "jeopardize" Elijah's recovery and alleged the singer was "not capable of managing her own affairs — let alone those of Elijah." King added that Cher did not drive, cook, or even know the code to her own home, and had once admitted she was a "manic depressive."

In September 2024, Cher dropped her petition following a private settlement through mediation, with both sides agreeing to resolve their disputes outside of court. Despite his mother's concerns, Elijah continued to insist he was capable of handling his life and finances without oversight. Yet his struggles resurfaced in June 2025, when he was hospitalized after allegedly behaving erratically at a San Bernardino County home where drugs were found. He was released a few days later while the investigation continued. Meanwhile, King filed for divorce in April 2025, further complicating the already tense family dynamic.

Are you a fan of Cher? What can you say about her intentions towards her son, Elijah? Let us know, and pass this on to your family, friends, and other Cher fans out there!