Meeting your new boyfriend’s mother is a big moment… So shame on the British model and singer Marieangela Kingwhose first encounter with the woman who is now her mother-in-law was unimaginably terrifying.

She had met her boyfriend Elijah on a blind date outside Cologne Cathedral when Marieangela visited her family in Germany for Christmas. It went well and more dates followed.

Elijah then invited Marieangela to spend Christmas Day with his family, who were renting a house on the Rhine River, casually “dropping” into the conversation that she might have heard of his mother: the global pop icon, Cher.

“I actually met Cher for the first time on Christmas Day”recalls Marieangela in an interview with the “Daily Mail”. “It was a great experience and I was very, very nervous.”

“She was gorgeous, wearing all black and her T-shirt had rhinestones on it. And despite being one of the most famous women in the world, she was actually quite shy. She gave me a handmade light gray scarf as a gift.

I found her wonderful. I remember praising her Christmas trees with their white bows and white lights. They were works of art made by Cher herself. They were very different from anything I had seen before. Later he told me: “The first time I saw you I knew my son would marry you.” It was obvious we were in love”.

Fast-forward 12 years since that first meeting in 2011, though, and relations between the two women couldn’t be more ‘frozen’.

They have just been embroiled in a highly emotional and disturbing court case after 77-year-old Cher tried to get a guardianship order, putting herself in control of her 47-year-old son’s finances.

Cher with her bride

This is the same situation in which the singer Britney Spears lived for 13 years under the supervision-guardianship of her father.

Cher had claimed that Elijah, her son with second husband Gregg Allman, to whom she was married for four years, is addicted to drugs and has physical and mental health problems that have left him unable to manage his financial affairs .

In court documents, she described her daughter-in-law as a destructive presence in her son’s life, claiming she blocked efforts to get him the help he needed.

“Their tumultuous relationship has been marked by a cycle of drug addiction and mental health crises”Cher reported, adding that she fears Elijah will die within time.

Her daughter-in-law vehemently denied the allegations, insisting she always acted in her husband’s best interest. “It has been said in the court documents that I got him out of rehab,” she says. “Yes, I got him out of a facility in Mexico where he was being held against his will and where he had no rights and was forced to go. I wanted the best for him”Marieangela King explains.

Marieangela also maintains that she doesn’t have an addiction problem herself, saying: “I don’t have a reputation for taking drugs, everyone knows that about me.”

She even questioned Cher’s suitability to handle Elijah’s affairs, bluntly replying, “She doesn’t drive, cook herself or dress herself.”

As for Elijah, he had stated in a court filing before the hearing that a commission is not necessary. Although he acknowledged his struggles with addiction and irresponsible spending, he said he is under a doctor’s care, has been sober for more than three months, attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and is willing to submit to a drug test.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cher (@cher)

Marieangela adds meaningfully: “Our marriage isn’t perfect, but we’ve lasted longer than most Hollywood marriages. I’m Catholic and I don’t believe in divorce. I felt from the beginning that he was being pressured to get a divorce. Nothing is irreparable when there is love. Elijah is my man. I love my mother in law and I hope we can find each other in the future. Life is short, but I feel like he owes me an apology.”