No "Cheap Thrills" Here: Sia's Estranged Husband Seeks $250K Per Month While Revealing Their $500k Monthly Expenses

Sia Furler is certainly one of the most distinctive and mysterious figures in pop music. She's written chart-topping hits for artists like Rihanna, Beyoncé, and David Guetta, while building her own career around anthems of resilience and self-expression—songs like "Chandelier," "Elastic Heart," and "Cheap Thrills." Behind the wigs and spectacle, her story has always been one of survival and reinvention, marked by immense talent, personal loss, and a lifelong battle to protect her privacy in an industry that devours it.

As an example of her intense privacy, before her recent divorce filing, I don't think anyone in the world knew that Sia welcomed a baby in March 2024. The baby's father is Dan Bernad, whom Sia married in December 2022.

The couple is so private that 90% of the articles being written right now about their divorce are referring to her husband as Daniel "Bernard," as opposed to "Bernad." I found his LinkedIn, and I'm almost 100% positive "Bernad" is correct. Unless he mispelled it on LinkedIn, which isn't impossible!

Either way. The reason we are covering this celebrity divorce is because Bernad just filed a court request asking Sia to pay him $250,856 per month in spousal support, plus another half-million dollars in legal and accounting fees. The numbers are so outlandish that they've transformed what might have been a quiet split into a full-blown tabloid spectacle.

Bernad's $250,000 Monthly Request

In his court filings, Bernad claims he has been left financially stranded since Sia filed for divorce in March 2025. He's asking for $250,856 in monthly spousal support, along with $300,000 for attorney fees and another $200,000 for a forensic accounting investigation. Bernad says he has been unemployed since April, when Sia's company terminated funding for their joint venture, Modern Medicine, which he describes as his only income source.

Bernad further claims that, since losing that funding, he has "no income, no real property, no retirement and very little funds" in his bank account.

According to court documents, Bernard left his career in oncology around the time he began dating Sia, and the couple later decided to open a ketamine treatment clinic together in 2021. He now claims that Sia has stopped financing the business and that he can't return to hospital work because his medical license has lapsed.

Sia's Response and Custody Filing

Sia, 49, filed for divorce in Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences. In her filing, she requested sole physical and legal custody of the couple's 11-month-old child, Somersault Wonder Bernad, while offering visitation rights to Bernad. Crucially, Sia also checked the box to terminate the court's ability to award spousal support, signaling her intent to block any future financial obligations to her estranged husband.

The divorce also revealed a previously unknown chapter in Sia's life: the quiet birth of her third child in March 2024. The Australian singer-songwriter, who has long guarded her privacy, never publicly announced the pregnancy or birth prior to the court filing.

Inside Their Lavish Lifestyle

In his petition, Bernad described the luxurious standard of living he shared with Sia during their marriage. During their marriage, the couple lived in a 9,500-square-foot mansion set on 1.4 acres in Toluca Lake, California. She bought the home back in 2015 for $5.15 million. In his appeal for $250k per month, Daniel further claims that their lifestyle was supported by private jet travel, fine dining, and 10 to 12 full-time staff members, including chefs, a butler, personal stylists, masseuses, housekeepers, and even an in-house IT technician!! According to Bernad, their monthly household expenses ranged between $400,000 and $500,000.

He argues that this level of luxury reflected the lifestyle Sia provided throughout the marriage and that he now lacks the means to maintain it without her financial assistance. According to his filing:

"Orders are necessary at this time because I am financially dependent on Sia, the breadwinner in our marriage… Sia has the ability to pay me spousal support to maintain our financial status quo."

(Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame )

A Complicated Romantic History

Sia and Bernad married in an intimate ceremony in Portofino, Italy, in 2022, attended by only a handful of guests. Despite the glamorous setting, the couple kept their relationship largely out of the spotlight. Before Bernad, Sia was married to filmmaker Erik Anders Lang from 2014 to 2016—a breakup she later described as leaving her "in bed for three years" due to depression. In 2019, she adopted two teenage boys who were aging out of the foster care system, later revealing that she had also become a grandmother.

Her personal experiences—marked by loss, love, addiction, recovery, and resilience—have long influenced her songwriting and public persona. While she famously hides her face behind oversized wigs, Sia has been remarkably open about her struggles with mental health and the pressures of fame.

From "Cheap Thrills" to Costly Bills

For now, the woman who once sang about not needing "dollar bills to have fun tonight" may be facing one of the most expensive chapters of her life. If Daniel Bernad's requests are granted in full, Sia could be responsible for a one-time payout of roughly $750,000 to cover his legal and accounting fees, plus an ongoing $250,000 per month in spousal support.

It's an extraordinary sum, even by celebrity divorce standards, and a striking contrast to the fiercely independent image Sia has cultivated throughout her career. The singer who built her fortune and creative legacy on her own terms now finds herself in a courtroom battle over the very thing she's spent years trying to keep private. Whether the court sides with Sia or her estranged husband remains to be seen — but one thing is certain: in this divorce, there are no cheap thrills at all.