Cher denies ‘rumor’ that she orchestrated plot to kidnap son during his contentious divorce

In the wake of kidnapping allegations made by her estranged daughter-in-law in court documents, Cher says that she did not orchestrate the alleged abduction of her son Elijah Blue Allman.

“[T]hat rumor is not true,” the music superstar said Wednesday. The “Believe” singer declined to comment further on the November 2022 allegations but confirmed to People that the private family matter was related to her son’s addiction issues — issues that were alluded to in December court documents reviewed last month by The Times.

A representative for Cher did not immediately respond Wednesday to The Times’ request for comment.

The allegations stem from Allman’s ongoing divorce proceedings with Marieangela King, the 36-year-old recording artist known as Queeny King whom Allman wed in 2013.

Entertainment & Arts

Cher engineered the abduction of her own son from a N.Y. hotel, court documents say

Cher’s former daughter-in-law claims the singer had son Elijah Blue Allman kidnapped from a New York hotel room in 2022, according to a court filing.

Sept. 27, 2023

Allman, 47, whose father is late rocker Gregg Allman, filed for divorce from King in November 2021. However, during an attempt to reconcile on their anniversary about a year later, King alleged in court documents filed in December that four men came to the New York hotel room where they had been staying and “removed [Allman] from our room.” She said she was told by one of the men that they were “hired by [Allman’s] mother,” referring to Cher, for an alleged intervention. She claimed in the December court documents, which she filed over spousal support payments, that she was “currently unaware” of Allman’s well-being or whereabouts.

King’s attorney, Regina Ratner, told The Times last month that her client was still concerned for the health and safety of her estranged husband. After the alleged abduction, Allman was taken to a treatment facility and King was not allowed to contact him, the court documents said. He was expected to end his treatment by March and, King stated, had been receiving medical care since August 2022.

Cher had been worried about her son’s health and had been planning an intervention after he apparently collapsed at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Hollywood last year, according to the Daily Mail, which was the first to report on the court filings last month.

The Oscar, Grammy and Emmy winner did not address the allegations until Wednesday in her statement to People. In it, however, the “If I Could Turn Back Time” singer focused on her son’s struggle with substance abuse.

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“I’m not suffering from any problem that millions of people in the United States aren’t,” the 77-year-old entertainer said.

“I’m a mother. This is my job — one way or another, to try to help my children,” she added. “You do anything for your children. Whenever you can help them, you just do it because that’s what being a mother is. But it’s joy, even with heartache — mostly, when you think of your children, you just smile and you love them, and you try to be there for them.”

The singer’s statements come ahead of the release of her first-ever holiday album, “Christmas,” on Oct. 20. In a separate People article, she opened up about her yearlong relationship with 37-year-old music producer Alexander “A.E.” Edwards, who worked on her upcoming album.

“Alexander’s got diamond teeth, tattoos, white hair, and he’s way younger. He’s a beautiful man,” she said. “Also, I think it’s fun to be interested in somebody else’s love life!”

The singer said she was “not surprised” by the internet’s obsession with their pairing, which happened after a brief meeting at a Paris Fashion Week event and after a friend gave him her phone number.

“I had been telling all my friends, ‘We’re too old to go out with really younger men, and I will never fall in love on text.’ So I did what I said not to do!” she told the mag, explaining that she broke her own rule “because he’s just so special.”

“No matter what happens, I love being with him,” she added. “He makes me laugh, and we have fun. What I learned is that it’s never too late. If you wrote out all the statistics, you would go, ‘Well, this is doomed.’ But we’ve been together a year, and if it was just a year, it would’ve been worth it. I’ve had the best time.”