Marieangela King on Finding ‘Peace’ amid Elijah Blue Allman Divorce (Exclusive)

Marieangela King didn’t know she was dating Cher‘s son when she met Elijah Blue Allman 14 years ago. Not at first, anyway.

“I told a friend, ‘I’m seeing someone named Elijah Blue,’” King recalls, leaning back on the couch in her L.A.-area home on a sunny September afternoon. “And they were like, ‘Cher’s kid?’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, he comes from a huge Hollywood family,’ and I’m like ‘Oh, okay.’”

It was the first of many surreal moments for the singer-songwriter. Now 38, King is looking back — on a love that once seemed unshakable, a marriage she says she poured her soul into and the heartbreak of letting it all go.

For the first time, King is speaking out about the journey: the highs, the unraveling and the complicated afterlife of a love story with the man she still calls her “best friend”: “I would never want to lose my best friend — he’s the love of my life.”

The former couple met overseas while King was living in Cologne, Germany, writing music under Universal Music Berlin with her siblings in their band, King Family. A mutual friend set her up with Allman on a blind date, though it wasn’t love at first sight.

“I was 24, he was pushing 35, so there was a big age difference. That felt like a big deal to me then,” King says. But the connection deepened quickly. “We talked all night and hung out. And the second date… was really the one that took the cake.”

Despite their different backgrounds, King says they shared a deep bond: “We found a simpatico, and I had never met anyone who could relate to my story, and I don’t think he has ever met anyone who could relate to his story.”

Allman proposed at their Beverly Hills home in November 2013. Five days later, on Dec. 1, 2013, they married quietly in front of the fireplace with just an officiant, two best friends and their bulldog, Andy Warhol. “I didn’t want it to be about my dress or about the guests or the guest list or make it a stink,” King says. “I wanted it to be something personal and private, so we were just doing it for ourselves.”

But soon, reality came knocking. Over time, their marriage was tested by separations, visa issues and unresolved personal traumas, King says, and the relationship became challenging. Years of emotional strain had taken a toll — from Allman’s reported battles with mental health and addiction, to rising tensions with Cher and the conservatorship petition she filed last year, to the marriage itself, which Allman first moved to end in 2021 before dismissing the case in 2024.

“We had love. But we also had pain,” King says of the couple’s turmoil. “My cage has never been so rattled before. And I never thought that I could lose myself, and I did. I didn’t know who I was.”

Still, their creative chemistry remained, King says. “He co-produced on my songs. They are all about him, like ‘Angel in Paris.’ I never told him this, but when I was trying to find my sound, I studied [Allman’s band] Deadsy. I loved how Elijah used these vintage ‘80s synths. I literally listened and said, ‘I’m taking that synth and that one and that one.’ He shaped my music without even realizing it.”

But this year, King made what she calls the hardest decision of her life. On April 8, she filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences; she was granted $6,500 in temporary spousal support and the couple’s 2017 Toyota Prius and attorney fees.

“It’s not something I believe in. It’s not something I wanted,” she says of filing, “but that day… that day I had no other option.”

Her voice still trembles at the memory. “Love is an action, love is a decision. And I made a decision and a choice to stick by this man in 2013 through sickness and health,” she says, her eyes glassy with tears. “I still tell him I love him all the time.”

King turned to faith and family. “I went to church more than I ever have in my life. I pray about it every day. “When s— hits the fan you need that environment to remind you who you are when you feel so uncertain; you need to feel grounded. And my friends and my family did that for me.”

Even now, the line between love and loss is blurry.

“He’s still my husband,” she says. “People say, ‘He’s your ex,’ and I say, ‘Yeah, I know, but we’re still married.’ … He’s all I’ve known since I was 24. We’ve molded into each other. The idea of another guy? I mean it’s possible, but we have so much history, which is never going to go away. I can’t even mentally go there because it just feels wrong.”

Today King is still processing her complicated feelings of ending the marriage. “It’s not what I want. That day I filed for divorce; there was no other option,” she says. “I have got to just focus on myself and on God and on things that are productive. I’m always there for Elijah.”

And now, she’s slowly carving a path forward — through music, through healing and through doing something entirely her own. King is producing and hosting a variety show at the Kookaburra Lounge in Los Angeles on Saturday, Oct. 4. All proceeds go to Face Forward, a nonprofit that offers life-changing surgery and support to survivors of domestic violence, trafficking and violent crime.

Her voice breaks just slightly before she cracks a smile. “This is me. This show, this music — it’s me. I’m finally doing something for me. It’s the first time in a long time I’ve felt excited about something,” King says. “I do feel peace that I haven’t felt before. It’s priceless.”

She plans to invite Allman to the show. “I think he’ll come. I hope he will. My man, my former man…” she pauses to take a deep breath. “I don’t even know what to call him anymore.”

King still ponders the question of whether she hopes to reconcile.

“I don’t know what the future holds, but I feel like I’m pulling a sack of rocks uphill in the highest stilettos,” she says. “What I can say is that I care and love that man. And I think the best thing for him is peace.”