Cher’s son reportedly claimed to be ‘prospective parent’ before arrest at elite prep school: What to know
Cher’s son Elijah Allman is facing misdemeanor charges following his arrest last week at St. Paul’s School — but what remains unclear is why he was on the New Hampshire boarding school’s campus in the first place.
On Feb. 27, the 49-year-old, who is the son of the 79-year-old singer and the late rock musician Gregg Allman, was taken into custody after causing a disturbance in the dining hall of St. Paul's School in Concord. Allman was arrested and charged with four misdemeanors, including two counts of simple assault and two counts of criminal trespass and criminal threatening, as well as a violation of disorderly conduct. Allman was later released on bail.
Allman has no connection to the elite prep school, officials told local TV station WMUR. According to a message from St. Paul's officials that was sent to parents and obtained by the Concord Monitor, Allman claimed that he was a "prospective parent." However, Allman, who is reportedly separated from his wife, singer Marieangela "Queenie" King, has no known children.
Per the message, Allman displayed aggressive behavior toward faculty members and police officers prior to his arrest.
School officials said the incident started around 6 p.m., when Allman was driven by another individual onto the campus, after which he walked into the dining hall as students were exiting.
Allman reportedly smoked a cigarette while engaging with students inside the dining hall. The school said that Allman became agitated when some students began following him, allegedly "poking one with his cane" during the encounter.
Faculty and campus safety officers responded once informed of the disturbance. School officials said that once they confronted Allman, he allegedly "pushed one faculty member with his cane" before being escorted from the building.
"He was belligerent toward our adults and the police officers," school officials wrote in the message.
The school said that the incident coincided with a playoff hockey game, winter dance and music performances, drawing more adults who were unfamiliar to the students to the campus than usual.
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The individual who drove Allman onto the campus was questioned at the scene but not detained. Afterward, the person departed the campus immediately in their vehicle, according to the message.
According to the Concord Monitor, Allman was arrested two days later at a home in Windham, New Hampshire after allegedly breaking into the residence.
Police responded to a 911 call around 9:47 a.m. about someone entering a home through a back door that had been shattered, with the caller hiding in a closet. When officers arrived, they found Allman sitting on the living room couch smoking a cigarette and took him into custody without incident.
According to police, nothing appeared to be stolen, but a glass pane in the rear door had been shattered and there was a fresh cigarette burn on a rug inside the home. The estimated cost of the damage was about $1,000.
Per court records obtained by the Concord Monitor, Allman told officers that the homeowner had given him permission "to enter the residence and break the door."
Allman will be arraigned on April 20 at Concord District Court and March 11 at Salem District Court, according to the Concord Monitor,
In the message from St. Paul's, school officials wrote that in response to the incident, they intend to update staff training and reinforce protocols for campus visitors.
"While this event was serious, it would not have garnered media attention if it were not for Mr. Allman’s celebrity status," the school wrote.
Allman has a long history of mental health and substance abuse problems. News broke in June 2025 that he was taken to a hospital in San Bernardino County for demonstrating erratic behavior after authorities received a disturbance call.
"Deputies from our Morongo Basin Station responded to a residence in Landers for a male subject acting erratically," authorities from the Bernardino County Sheriff's Office said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. "When deputies arrived, Elijah Allman, 48, was being evaluated by emergency medical personnel. Deputies located drugs inside the home, and Allman was transported to the hospital. The investigation is ongoing."
Cher was previously appointed the temporary conservator of Allman in December 2023, as documents claimed that her son is "substantially unable to manage his financial resources due to severe mental health and substance abuse issues."
In her bid for conservatorship, she argued that while he is entitled to the money provided to him in the trust set up by his father, the late musician Gregg Allman, due to "his ongoing mental health and substance abuse issues," any money he gets "will immediately be spent on drugs, leaving Elijah with no assets to provide for himself, and putting Elijah’s life at risk."
Allman responded to his mother's petition a month later in January 2024, noting he didn't feel comfortable with his mom handling his finances.
"I do not need her unsolicited help or support at this time," he stated in the documents.
Allman stated in documents that he had since refrained from the use of illicit substances that "have historically caused the incidents that have given rise to my mother's concern."
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The "Believe" hitmaker later lost her temporary conservatorship over Allman in January 2024.
While Allman reportedly has no known affiliation with St. Paul's School, he has previously spoken out about how he began attending boarding school from a very young age, which he said led him to feel rejected.
"When you go to boarding school at 7 years old, it's kind of hard to feel like you're not being shunned," he said during a 2014 interview with Entertainment Tonight. "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."
Allman explained that he would often visit his parents in New York City on the weekends. He said that during his trips to Manhattan, he and his friends would obtain drugs.
"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," he said. "It's actually shocking to think about myself at like 11 years old buying drugs in Harlem. Its pretty crazy. It seemed normal at the time."
Allman later enrolled at The Hyde School, a private college-prep boarding school with a character-education focus in Bath, Maine that serves students in grades 9–12. He graduated from The Hyde School in 1994.
After graduation, Allman formed the rock band Deadsy with his friends Alec Puro and Renn Hawkey in 1995. Allman, who is the band's frontman, adopted the stage name P. Exeter Blue, which he has previously said was inspired in part by the elite New England boarding school Phillips Exeter Academy.
During a 1997 interview with Lollipop magazine, Allman and Hawkey, who attended The Hyde School together, explained how their band's aesthetic was influenced by their prep school experiences.
"The artery of this band is the whole New England Prep School thing," Allma said. "The whole legacy and prestige of New England, and these kids just coming up and smashing and robbing all the organization from it. All the debauchery, the uniforms, the crests, the blazers. We love all that s---. People might not understand all of that, but they will. It was only a few years ago."
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"That whole version of New England life, we’re really into that," he added.
Allman explained that the band's concept was inspired by what he saw as the perception versus the reality of prep-school culture.
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"That’s what we’re talking about! That’s why that world is so great! The debauchery! And on the weekend you can go home and get more money from your parents to go back and do more drugs," he said. "The usual concept of prep school is such a misleading idea! It’s like college before college."
Hawkey told the outlet that he and Allman were the "preppy punks" at The Hyde School.
"That was us," Allman said. "We’re the ones who ran the whole underground. The kids who were full New Wavers but still made the dress code. So we’re taking that into this world."
Fox News Digital's Lori A. Bashian contributed to this report.