The image is almost absurdly Hollywood: Cher, the woman who turned defiance into a career, quietly deploying one of Los Angeles' most feared divorce lawyers to protect a wayward son's dwindling fortune.
Behind it, though, is a much smaller, sadder story — of a 49‑year‑old musician allegedly "broke as a joke", an estranged wife chasing unpaid support, and a trust fund from a dead rock star father that has become the latest battleground in a deeply messy split.
Elijah Blue Allman, Cher's only child with Allman Brothers Band legend Gregg Allman, has brought in celebrity attorneyLaura Wasserto fight his corner in his ongoing divorce from British‑born singer Marieangela "Queenie" King. Wasser is not cheap and she is not gentle. Her arrival on the case looks, to those close to the family, like Cher stepping in with claws out.
Court records show Wasser formally joined Allman's legal team on 23 January. Within days, she had requested a hearing to challenge a motion King filed in December to enforce money she says she is owed.
King, 38, served divorce papers on Allman last April after 13 years of marriage, citing 'irreconcilable differences'. A judge later ordered Allman to pay her $6,500 (£5,200) a month in spousal support, as well as contributing to her legal fees. According to King's filings, he now owes more than $26,000 in unpaid support and costs.
Allman, a musician with a long‑documented history of drug addiction, is not exactly awash with his own income. He reportedly receives around $120,000 a year from a trust set up by Gregg Allman before his death in 2017. Even that, insiders say, is under strain.
'Elijah has been burning through his trust fund for years now, and the word is that he's broke as a joke,' one source told US tabloidGlobe, which first reported Wasser's involvement. 'So going cap in hand to his mum is his best chance to climb out of debt.'
Cher, now 79, is not named in the court papers. There is no hard proof she is footing Wasser's bill. But the lawyer is reputed to charge $850 to $1,000 an hour simply to pick up the phone. Few people in Elijah Blue's position could remotely afford that, and friends assume the cheque book behind the "pitbull" is his mother's.
Wasser's client list reads like a roll‑call of modern celebrity chaos: Kim Kardashian, Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, Kevin Costner, Britney Spears, Ryan Reynolds, Ariana Grande. She is hired when rich people expect a fight and want someone who already knows where every legal tripwire on the California family‑law landscape is buried.
That she is now aiming her considerable firepower at King is telling. For all Cher's public silence, it suggests she has chosen a side.
Source: International Business Times UK
