Cher's Kids: Sons Chaz Bono and Elijah Blue Allman

Cher is a proud mother of two kids. However, her relationships with both of her children have been rather complicated over the years.

The legendary entertainer became a first-time mom at age 22 when she and her first husband, Sonny Bono, welcomed Chaz Bono in March 1969. Chaz made frequent appearances at the end of the couple’s variety show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, which began airing in 1971. The little one was carried out by his parents to say goodnight to viewers at the end of every episode, charming so many fans.

Cher welcomed her second child on July 10, 1976, less than a year into her marriage to rocker Gregg Allman. The couple named their son Elijah Blue, and he grew up to become a musician like his dad.

Scroll down for more on Cher’s two kids, Chaz and Elijah Blue.

Chaz Bono

After initial fame on his parents’ TV show, Chaz lived a relatively private life until his early adult years when he came out in 1995. He took a position with GLAAD and worked with the Human Rights Campaign on LGBTQ+ issues at the time.

In 2009, Chaz announced he was transitioning. He documented his transition in the film Becoming Chaz, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Cher revealed that she had issues when he came out in 1995.

“It was very unlike me to, in the beginning, have a problem with Chaz being gay, and it disappeared like that. Then we talked about [if Chaz was] transgender for many years. And [he] would say, ‘No, I don’t want to [go through transition]. And then he went and said, ‘OK, I want to do this.’ But it wasn’t easy,” she told CNN in December 2020 of Chaz’s transition. “I remember calling, and the old [voicemail] message … was on the phone, and that was very difficult. But you don’t really lose them. They just are in a different shape.”

Cher added that her firstborn was “so unbelievably happy” with the person he had become. Since his transition, Chaz has carved out a successful acting career and became the first transgender contestant to compete on Dancing With the Stars.

Elijah Blue Allman

Despite their seven-year age difference, half-siblings Elijah and Chaz initially grew up together.
“We were close. I think what happened was Chaz went off to a performing arts school back east and I went off back east as well, later to prep school, and so from there, we kind of took different paths. But for a minute growing up, we were kind of close, yeah … we kind of grew apart when we started going to different schools and just not being geographically around each other,” Elijah told Entertainment Tonight in February 2014.
Being sent away from home at such a young age affected Elijah deeply.
“When you go to boarding school at 7 years old, it’s kind of hard to feel like you’re not being shunned,” he told the outlet, adding, “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.”
Elijah would come home on weekends to visit his parents in New York, but it led to drug abuse.
“So I would come home on the weekend and me and my friends would go up to Harlem and get into all kinds of trouble. It’s actually shocking to think about myself at like 11 years old buying drugs in Harlem. It’s pretty crazy. It seemed normal at the time,” he told ET.

Elijah explained that he started using marijuana and ecstasy, then graduated to hard drugs, including heroin.

“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 … [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,” he revealed.

Elijah appeared as a guitarist in his mom’s iconic “If I Could Turn Back Time” music video, and performed as a backup guitarist on her tour. He married British singer Marie Angela King in December 2013. Cher didn’t attend their Beverly Hills wedding, as Elijah didn’t invite her.

In December 2022, Marie Angela filed for divorce. In the court docs obtained by Closer, she alleged she “was asked to leave our family home by [Elijah’s] mother” while her estranged husband was receiving medical care in a treatment center. The former couple did not welcome any children together during their marriage.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).