Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, was briefly married to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, from 1994 to 1996.
And though the former couple’s relationship and marriage were highly publicized at the time, Lisa Marie’s mother, Priscilla, recently revealed that she “didn’t believe” Jackson loved her daughter, describing him as a “manipulative” person.
Per US Weekly, Priscilla, 80, touched on how she felt about her deceased daughter’s marriage to Jackson in her new memoir, Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, which hit the shelves on Tuesday.
“I was appalled by the marriage. I knew in my bones that Michael wasn’t marrying Lisa Marie; he was marrying the Presley dynasty,” Priscilla wrote in her memoir. “The King of Pop was allying himself with the King of Rock and Roll. I didn’t believe he loved her.”
Priscilla implied that Jackson married Lisa Marie because he “desperately needed good publicity.”
“It was one thing to legally fight the child molestation charges against him. There was no way to come out of that looking good,” the 80-year-old added. “But photos of him with Elvis’s daughter wearing the huge diamond engagement ring he’d had made for her? That image was pure gold.”
Lisa Marie and Jackson married just 20 days after she and her first husband, Benjamin Keough, finalized their divorce. Priscilla wrote that Jackson “started reaching out” to her daughter “when the child abuse charges” against the pop legend “went public.”
“I think that’s how he hooked her in the beginning,” Priscilla stated. “She felt sorry for him, and naturally, she believed in his innocence. Nobody wants to believe those kinds of allegations against someone they know.”
In 1993, then-13-year-old Jordy Chandler initially accused Jackson of child sexual abuse. And though Jackson maintained his innocence, he reportedly reached an out-of-court settlement of over $20 million with the Chandler family. In 2003, Jackson was ultimately arrested on child molestation charges, but he was acquitted on all counts in 2005.
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Priscilla, in her memoir, wrote that Jackson “gradually” enticed Lisa Marie when the allegations initially made headlines.
“Michael was a manipulative man, and I think he had his sights set on her long before she realized it,” she wrote, per US Weekly. Priscilla also stated that her deceased daughter was unaware that the “childlike innocence” displayed by her then-son-in-law was a “warning sign.”
Priscilla further touched on her relationship with Jackson, describing it as “bizarre.” She recalled Jackson’s behavior when she visited the former couple’s home for dinner.
“I was prepared to be pleasant, but he wanted nothing to do with me. He stayed as far away from me as possible. In fact, he stayed far away from all the adults,” wrote Priscilla. “He continued to go to great lengths to avoid me.”
She stated that her “actual contact” with Jackson was when he “unexpectedly” attended an Elvis Presley tribute concert in Memphis, per US Weekly. Priscilla, however, referred to the King of Pop’s presence as “another publicity stunt.” She stated that before the event, she was with Lisa Marie at a hotel, but Jackson “didn’t come out” to exchange pleasantries with her.
“A few minutes after I arrived, the door down the hall opened, and Michael popped out,” she recalled. “He grabbed his hat off the table where he’d left it, sort of smiled, and then popped back in the room and shut the door. He said nothing to me on the way to the show.”
Priscilla said that she couldn’t have a conversation with Jackson during the show, as there was “no opportunity.” “Early the next morning, he was gone,” she continued. She described that as the “sum total” of her communication with Jackson when Lisa Marie was married to him.
Jackson died of acute cardiac arrest from acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication on June 25, 2009. He was 50. Lisa Marie, on the other hand, succumbed to bowel obstruction on January 12, 2023, at the age of 54.
READ ALSO: ‘He pushed me away’ – Inside the strange marriage between MJ and Elvis Presley’s daughter
