Sia has opened about what the singer-songwriter described as a very difficult year following her split with estranged husband Daniel Bernad. In an X post on Tuesday (April 7), the “Dance Alone” star lamented that the details of her child custody settlement with Bernad had been made public and alluded to the details of the arrangement signed by both parties in Los Angeles on April 3.
“I’m a sober working mom trying to buy peace. I have primary custody of our son and since i am the only parent earning income i still have to pay California’s incredibly high child support,” Sia (born Sia Furler), 50, wrote of the settlement — the details of which were obtained by Billboard — which will require her to pay Bernad $42,500 per month in child support.
“This has been a horrific year but it taught me how to navigate incredibly difficult situations, prioritize my family and not absorb other people’s negativity,” she added, tacking on the well-known Alexander Pope phrase: “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” In a second post that appeared to take aim at her ex, Sia wrote, “good dads get jobs.” Bernad’s lawyer declined to comment on Sia’s posts at press time.
According to the court documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday (April 6), Sia will pay Bernad the five-figure amount per month to support their child, son Somersault Wonder Bernad; the payments were slated to begin on April 1. The singer, who also adopted two children in 2019, will continue to pay the monthly fees to Bernad until their son turns 18 or, if he continues to attend high school full-time, until he graduates or turns 19.
Sia is also responsible for paying private school tuition, fees for agreed-upon extracurricular activities and uninsured health care costs, as well as for maintaining health insurance for her son, according to the agreement. Sia is also required to obtain a life insurance policy for her son with a death benefit of $5 million, with Somersault as the beneficiary and to pay Bernad’s $350,000 attorney’s fees.
The couple will share joint legal custody of Somersault, who was born on March 27, 2024, with physical custody schedules laid out in the court document, including custody on major holidays (such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur, Passover and Rosh Hashana) and agreements covering vacations, school breaks and communication between the ex’s.
The ruling also specifies that “neither party shall disparage the other” within range of their son, nicknamed “Summi,” and if he is away from either parent for more than 72 hours, the non-custodial parent is expected to be able to FaceTime at a mutually agreed-upon time. In his initial request, Bernad was seeking more than $250,000 a month in spousal support from Sia. In that earlier request, Bernad claimed he had nearly no money in his bank account and no income, saying the singer convinced him to stop working because she disliked his long hours at the hospital and that he was unable to return to work at the hospital because his license had expired.
Sia, listed in the custody agreement as “Sia Bernad,” filed for divorce from oncologist Bernad in March 2025, three years after their 2022 wedding. Bernad filed paperwork in October 2025 seeking sole legal and physical custody of their son, alleging at the time that the singer — who has been open about her past struggles with substance use — was “an unfit and unreliable parent struggling with substance abuse and addiction” according to earlier court documents.
Sia responded and said she’d been sober for six months and was participating in a recovery program that included weekly testing, hitting back with allegations that Bernad was under investigation for alleged possession of child pornography. Bernad “vehemently” denied any wrongdoing and claimed that his ex “planted” illicit material on his computer hard drive. The Los Angeles Police Department and the city’s Department of Child and Family Services both looked into the claims, but closed their investigations without any charges, citing a lack of evidence.
A judge previously rejected Bernad’s emergency request to change the couple’s custody arrangement, saying there was not sufficient evidence to justify the emergency relief at that time.
