Cher filed for divorce from Gregg Allman just 9 days after wedding as she had doubts about their future

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Cher is turning back the clock and opening up about her whirlwind marriage to rocker Gregg Allman.

In her bestselling memoir, 'Cher: The Memoir, Part One', the iconic singer gives fans a no-holds-barred look into what went down between her and the Allman Brothers Band frontman.

Cher recounts surprise pregnancy, a wedding, and immediate regrets

The 'Believe' singer’s journey with Allman kicked off just as her divorce from Sonny Bono was finalized in June 1975. But even as sparks flew, Cher admitted she had her doubts.

“I didn’t know whether my relationship with Gregory would last or not,” she revealed, as quoted by People magazine. “I was living each day as it came.”

Despite her uncertainty, Cher found herself pregnant and decided marriage was the right move. “I just kept putting one foot in front of the other,” she wrote. “The future is never written in stone. I did what I thought was the right thing to do.”

But her inner circle wasn’t exactly cheering. Her sister Georganne and close friend Paulette were floored, reacting as if Cher had “gone into an alternative universe.” Still, Cher brushed them off by saying, “Come on, let’s just do this.”

The wedding happened just days after Cher’s split from Sonny was official. “There was nothing romantic about our wedding day," she said. Nine days later, Cher filed to dissolve the marriage—but then reconciled with Allman.

In 1976, the pair welcomed their son Elijah Blue Allman, but the love story was officially over by 1979.

Cher’s memoir doesn’t sugarcoat the tough times, especially when it came to Allman’s struggles with addiction. According to the New York Post, Cher initially filed for divorce after finding a plastic bag of white powder that belonged to Allman. That discovery was just the beginning.

“[I] told him over the phone, ‘I’m just so tired of doing this, Gregory. I’m so tired of going to rehab with you,’” she recalled. “He was quiet on the other end of the line. ‘But I keep going,’ he said softly.”

Cher admitted that his words made her empathize with his struggle. “His answer stopped me in my tracks because it was true,” she said. “He kept going to rehab, kept trying to get clean, kept making an effort despite failing in the past. In that moment, instead of thinking of my own exhaustion, I empathized with him.”

But the final straw came one terrifying night when Allman had a paranoid breakdown. “[He] insisted he saw men with guns in the backyard,” the Grammy winner wrote. “It [was] not safe for the kids. It only happened once, but I couldn’t risk it.”

Gregg Allman's love for Cher never died

Decades after their marriage ended, those close to Gregg Allman believed he never stopped loving Cher.

Alan Paul — author of 'Brothers and Sisters: The Allman Brothers Band and the Inside Story of the Album That Defined the ‘70s' — told Fox News, “Gregg didn’t like to talk about Cher that much. People took that for disliking her, having aggression toward her, or something. I don’t believe that was ever the case. I think it was the opposite.”

Paul explained that their relationship was fraught with misunderstandings from the start.

“Gregg at the time was a full-blown drug addict, and he was struggling to overcome it,” he said. “He did go in and out of rehab several times. He had periods where he was able to overcome it. He talked about that very openly. Cher, even though she had been in Hollywood and a celebrity since she was 16-17, was quite naive. She didn’t understand what that meant.”

“Gregg at one point, early in their relationship, says to her, ‘Just go home. Pretend this was a trip to Disneyland. It was fun while it lasted. Now go home,’” said Paul. “He couldn’t bring himself to tell her he was an addict. Cher is completely crushed, angry, blown away. In her mind, everything is going great. She’s basically like, ‘What the hell’s going on?’”

According to Paul, Allman eventually broke down and cried for nearly an hour before confessing: “I’m a junkie. The good news is I’m crazy mad in love with you, but the bad news is I have a problem.”

Cher, unfazed, replied, “That’s OK – we can beat that.” But Allman tried to make her understand the gravity of his addiction: “You don’t understand. I would steal your mama’s TV.”

Hope, heartbreak, and addiction

Alan Paul believed Cher truly thought they could overcome Gregg Allman’s addiction.

“Her reaction was like, ‘That’s fine, it’s a problem, and we’ll fix it,’” he explained. “She understood it as a problem, but she thought it was something where you go to a doctor, you could go to rehab, and you’ll be better. She didn’t understand… And Gregg talked so openly about that… From the very beginning of their relationship, it was overshadowed by his drug use.”

Allman died in 2017 at age 69 after battling liver cancer.

More of Cher’s candid reflections are to come in Part Two of her memoir, which is set to hit shelves in 2025.