Sia Claims Ex Was Under Investigation for Child Porn, Weaponized Her Past Addiction Issues as Custody Battle Explodes

The pending divorce between Sia and her estranged husband Daniel Bernad has escalated, with the singer now claiming that her ex has weaponized her past struggles with drug abuse in a financially motivated play for full custody over their toddler son.

The “Chandelier” singer, 49, filed for divorce from Bernad in March after two years of marriage, and the two agreed that Sia would have full custody of their 19-month-old son Somersault Wonder, known as Summi.

But on Tuesday, Oct. 28, Bernad filed for sole legal and physical custody of the child, alleging that Sia is “a serious and immediate danger” to their son. In a lengthy legal filing obtained by PEOPLE, Bernad called the Grammy-nominated star an “unfit and unreliable parent struggling with substance abuse and addiction,” and claimed she’d been secretly hospitalized for two weeks in September and tested positive for barbiturates and benzodiazepines.

“Sia’s conduct is reckless, dangerous and demonstrates Sia’s utter disregard for Summi’s safety and well-being,” Bernad wrote in his declaration, in which he also requested $77,245 a month in child support.

Attorneys for Sia and Bernad did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

In a declaration of her own filed on Oct. 28, Sia asked the court to deny Bernad’s request for sole custody, denying his allegations of drug abuse and maintaining that Bernad — who she said was previously under investigation for child pornography — had “zero evidence” that Summi was in danger while in her care.

Sia called Bernad’s allegations of her past substance abuse “entirely unfounded and misleading,” and admitted that while she struggled with drug and alcohol issues more than 15 years ago, she has been fully sober for more than six months.

The “Cheap Thrills” singer said she is currently in a program that includes weekly testing and a sober companion. In Bernad’s filing, he asked that the court order Sia to submit to random drug testing three times a month and regular drug testing once a week. Sia, meanwhile, alleged in her declaration that she has repeatedly agreed to drug testing, but that Bernad “refused” to be tested on a regular basis.

“My recovery has been a cornerstone of my life and one of the primary reasons I chose to separate from Dan, whose ongoing engagement in a nightlife and recreational drug-use lifestyle is incompatible with a healthy environment for our child,” Sia wrote in her court declaration. “Dan’s attempt to weaponize my past sobriety journey — an issue long resolved and well-documented — serves no legitimate purpose and is intended only to distort the facts and undermine my credibility before this Court. His willingness to dredge up decades-old history to serve his own financial and strategic interests demonstrates the extent to which he will go, even at the expense of his child and the child’s mother.”

Bernad’s declaration alleged that Sia was acting “strangely” while at the birthday party of a famous friend in March, and that she denied using drugs, but was found by their son’s nanny lying “disoriented” on her floor. Bernad, a former oncologist who says he quit his job at Sia’s behest, claimed that the singer had $15,000 worth of ketamine in her pocket at the time.

Meanwhile, Sia also claimed that shortly after she and Bernad separated in March, she was told that he was being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Department of Child and Family Services over allegations of child pornography on his computer hard drive. The star said that the case was “inconclusive” and is now closed, but she still worried about her son spending time with Bernad.

“While I understand the investigations of LAPD and DCFS have been inconclusive and now closed, this does not appease my concerns of Summi spending unsupervised time with Dan,” she wrote.

The singer — who adopted two 18-year-old boys in 2019 — claimed in her filing that she believes Bernad is financially motivated, and that she has already paid him $300,000 since they split in March.

“To date, every request by Dan for additional custodial time has been directly tied to financial gain rather than a genuine effort to foster a meaningful parental relationship with Summi,” she wrote.

Earlier this month, Bernad filed a petition in court requesting $250,856 per month in spousal support, plus $300,000 for legal fees and $200,000 for forensic accounting fees.