CherPhoto by Frazer Harrison via Getty Images

Cher has been accused of kidnapping her own adult son

The entertainment icon allegedly hired four ‘men’ to escort her son from a New York hotel room where he and his estranged wife were staying in November 2022

Over a chameleonic career spanning 57 years, Cher has taken on a number of different roles. Half a folk-rock duo with first husband Sonny Bono? Check. Starring opposite Nic Cage in an Academy Award-winning performance? Done. Playing Meryl Streep’s mum in Mamma Mia 2? Completed. But now, the legendary performer is allegedly undertaking a brand new role as a criminal mastermind.

Marie Angela King, the estranged wife of Cher’s son Elijah Blue Allman, has accused the singer of hiring “four men” to kidnap Allman from a hotel room in New York. The allegations, which have just come to light now, were made by King in divorce papers from December 2022. Allman initially filed for divorce from King in 2021, but the pair reportedly reconciled for 12 days in November 2022, when the incident is alleged to have taken place.

In court documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight, King states that she was “unaware” of her husband’s “wellbeing or whereabouts”, and that she was “very concerned and worried about him”. King also said in the court documents that she “was told by one of the four men who took him that they were hired by petitioner’s mother”, and that she had been told that she was “not allowed to see or speak” to Allman, who she claims was at a “treatment facility” that was “undisclosed” to her, with no access to his phone.

Elsewhere in the documents, King says that she was initially asked to leave the family home – owned by Cher – because Allman was absent from the property, and that’s why they met up at a hotel in NY on November 30, the night of their wedding anniversary. At the moment, it seems to be King’s word against Cher’s – we don’t know for sure if the incident took place the way she reports it. The next court date is scheduled for October 27 in LA.

Join Dazed Club and be part of our world! You get exclusive access to events, parties, festivals and our editors, as well as a free subscription to Dazed for a year. Join for £5/month today.

Read Next
Q+AParis Paloma on skewering misogyny in her new single, ‘Good Boy’

The British indie singer sits down with director Georgie Cowan-Turner to discuss how they created an unflinching critique of patriarchy in the music video for ‘Good Boy’

Read Now

Q+ATroye Sivan has an easy three-step recipe for ‘good vibes’

Ahead of an IRL briefcase drop on October 2 in LA, we speak to Smirnoff’s ‘Chief Vibes Officer’ about his daily rituals, current reading list, European summer vacation and lessons from turning 30

Read Now

Q+ADjo: ‘Music is a direct line to the soul’

We speak to Djo – AKA Joe Keery, AKA Stranger Things’ boy-next-door Steve Harrington – about his existential music catalogue, what love means to him, and his latest release, The Crux Deluxe

Read Now

FashionLouise Trotter dips her hand in the candy jar at Bottega Veneta SS26

The Italian house’s new creative director just dropped her debut collection in Milan. Here's everything you need to know

Read Now