How Cher Makes Up for Lost Time With Sons Chaz Bono, Elijah Blue Allman: ‘She Wasn’t Always Present’

By the time they were teens, Cher’s children had seen the world. “When they were young, I could just drag them with me,” the performer recalls, admitting she wishes she’d given them a little more stability. “It’s really hard in my job,” she says.

Cher, 75, has been trying to make up for lost time with sons Chaz Bono, 52, and Elijah Blue Allman, 45. “She wasn’t always present, but I’d say age has softened her,” says a friend exclusively to Closer. “She tries to bring her kids closer by organizing dinner and Zoom calls.”

Cher and Chaz, a transgender man who was born Chastity, “still bicker,” confides the friend. “But they have always been like that.” The most important thing is that Chaz has forgiven Cher for not being supportive when he first came out. “It has been difficult for my mother, but I respect that,” Chaz says in Becoming Chaz. “She sticks up for me — and what an ally to have! We are developing a new relationship.”

BELIEVE IN LOVE

The same is true for Cher and younger son Elijah, whose father is the late musician Gregg Allman. “When you go to boarding school at 7 years old, it’s kind of hard to feel like you’re not being shunned,” Elijah admits. “But I’m at an age where I’m making peace with it because you just have to.”

Mending fences with Elijah took longer because Cher and his wife of six years, Marieangela King, did not get along. When Elijah filed for divorce, last November, Cher offered her support. “She tells him she’s only a phone call away if he needs advice,” says the friend. “They’re in a much better place.”

No family is perfect, but Cher likes to think she’s become more available and understanding of her children. “It’s like Kate Hepburn said, ‘If you’re going to do this job, don’t have kids.’ But I wanted them,” says Cher. “My life would have been nothing without them.”

— Reporting by Natalie Posner