Chaz Bono, son of music star Cher, and his fiancée Shara Blue Mathes have reportedly moved into a new home in Hollywood ahead of their upcoming wedding.
The couple are planning a simple ceremony and are said to have uninvited Cher because of the singer’s conservatorship battle over her other son, Elijah Blue Allman.
Chaz Bono has previously opened up about his addiction to prescription opiates to deal with family tragedies and how hitting rock bottom pushed him to seek help.
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Chaz Bono And His Fiancée Move Into Their New Home
According to the Daily Mail, on September 7, the longtime couple were photographed with moving trucks at their former home in West Hollywood.
Chaz and Mathes’s new home is reportedly estimated at $2.5 million and is located just a few miles from their former house. Mathes was wearing a large pink Neil Young T-shirt and cargo shorts as she spoke with the movers at the home.
The movers were photographed moving boxes onto large trolleys and loading them into a truck. Mathes was also photographed greeting her brother with a hug as he arrived to help them move their belongings.
Chaz and Mathes have been together since 2017, about a decade after he transitioned from female to male.
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Before his transition, Chaz was named Chastity and even featured on her parents’ famous show, “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.”
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Cher Was Uninvited From The Couple’s Wedding
Chaz and Mathes are planning their wedding soon, but Cher allegedly won’t attend because she was not invited to the ceremony.
This was reportedly due to a family conflict that ensued over Cher’s filing for conservatorship of her other son, Elijah Blue Altman, which she began about a year ago.
Cher eventually abandoned her conservatorship bid on September 13, when she filed a notice to withdraw at the Los Angeles Superior Court.
An insider spoke to In Touch Weekly about the couple’s decision to uninvite Cher. They said, “Chaz and Shara are removing Cher from the guest list entirely and don’t feel too bad about it either.”
The insider emphasized that Chaz and Mathes just want a “simple ceremony with none of Cher’s theatrics.”
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However, now that the singer has given up on the conservatorship bid, it’s not clear whether the family will mend bridges and re-invite her.
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Cher Says It Was ‘Difficult’ For Her When Chaz Bono Went ‘Through The Transition’
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times last year, Cher opened up about her feelings when her son Chaz transitioned. The actress admitted that raising Chaz was challenging, especially during his transition.
“When Chaz went through the transition, that was difficult for me,” she said. “It shouldn’t have been because, you know, I’ve had gay friends forever. I just met some beautiful trans chicks and we have an affinity. Now I’m totally fine.”
The 77-year-old singer explained further, “It’s hard to lose one child to get a new one, especially so late. I think that was the hard thing for me. I don’t think it was the transition. It was waiting to see who the person would be, and would they be so much different than the person that was before them.”
Cher has previously stated that she didn’t handle her son’s transitioning “all that well in the beginning,” noting, per NME, that “It took me a minute. Because you’ve been with a child for 40 years, and then all of a sudden … but you know what? Chaz was so happy!”
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Chaz Bono Struggled With Drugs And Mental Health
Chaz has spoken about his addiction to prescription drugs in his 2011 memoir “The Story Of How I Became A Man.”
In the book, he explained that the addiction started after two family tragedies: the death of his father, Sonny, in a skiing accident and the death of Joan Stephens, his lover.
During a recent appearance at East House’s annual Hope and Recovery luncheon as the keynote speaker, Chaz also spoke about his addiction recovery. The fundraising event is hosted yearly to celebrate those recovering from substance use and mental health disorders.
During his appearance, Chaz was asked why he originally sought professional help.
He said, “I believe hitting some kind of bottom or having some type of moment of clarity where you can finally see yourself and see where your life is, that’s what was key to me wasn’t a dramatic moment either. It was just a moment when I was finally able to look at myself.”
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Cher Was Accused Of Kidnapping Her Other Son
In a court declaration in December 2022, Marieangela King, Elijag’s wife, alleged that Cher hired men to “kidnap” her son from a New York hotel room they were staying in to “work on their marriage” in a bid to get him to a clinic to get him sober.
However, Cher later denied it, telling People Magazine “that rumor is not true” and that “you do anything for your children.”
“I’m not suffering from any problem that millions of people in the United States aren’t,” Cher said of Elijah’s issues at the time. “I’m a mother. This is my job — one way or another, to try to help my children. You do anything for your children.”
She added, “Whenever you can help them, you just do it because that’s what being a mother is. But it’s joy, even with heartache — mostly, when you think of your children, you just smile and you love them, and you try to be there for them.”