Cher has filed for a conservatorship of her son Elijah Blue Allman, 47, claiming he is “substantially unable to manage his financial resources” amid substance abuse and mental health struggles.
Court documents, obtained by People, revealed that the 77-year-old pop icon has applied to be the sole conservator of Allman’s estate as he cannot manage his assets due to “severe mental health and substance abuse issues”.
The Independent has contacted Cher’s representatives for comment. In the US, a conservatorship takes over all legal responsibilities for someone who has been suffering from a mental health illness.
The document, filed at Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, reportedly states that Cher is concerned any money Allman receives from a trust set up by his late father, the musician Gregg Allman, “will be immediately spent on drugs”.
Cher, 77, has applied to be the sole conservator of Allman’s estate— (Getty)
In his most recent Instagram posts, Allman has included the hashtag #imprisonmentviaconservatorship, as fans expressed their concerns for his wellbeing.
“Elijah is entitled to regular distributions from the Trust, but given his ongoing mental health and substance abuse issues, [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,” the filing reportedly reads.
Cher also reportedly claimed Allman’s estranged wife Marie Angela King cannot be his conservator because “their tumultuous relationship has been marked by a cycle of drug addiction and mental health crises”.
The Independent has contacted King’s representatives for comment.
King, the frontwoman of British pop band KING, married Allman in 2013. He filed for divorce from the 36-year-old in November 2021.
In a divorce court filing that emerged three months ago, King accused Cher of hiring four men to kidnap Allman from a New York hotel last November.
King claimed the men removed Allman from the hotel room while the couple had been trying to work on their marriage.
“After spending these 12 days together in NY… four people came to our hotel room and removed [Allman] from our room,” King wrote in a declaration signed 4 December 2022, adding that she was “told by one of the four men who took him that they were hired by [Allman’s] mother.”
Cher dismissed King’s claim as a rumour, telling The New York Post: “You never stop being a mom – you go to the end, you go to the mattresses when you’re trying to save your children.
“But I didn’t do it. And if I did it, I wouldn’t care to tell you.”
Cher’s application to be Allman’s conservator states that she has “worked tirelessly to get Elijah into treatment and get him the help he needs”.
However, she has been unable to discuss Elijah’s preferences concerning the appointment of a temporary conservator due to his “current mental and physical health issues”.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight in 2014, Allman admitted to taking drugs since he was 11, adding that he had battled heroin addiction for years, but claimed that he has been sober since 2008.
“I [was] just looking to escape all the things in my past and, that’s when you turn to those kind of drugs, you know heroin and opiates,” he said. “[Heroin] kind of saved me … If I didn’t have that at that point, I don’t know what I would have done … You may jump off a bridge. If you can only just go through that time period and live through it and then get help.”
