Lisa Marie Presley 'Didn't Understand' Her Relationship With Michael Jackson

By PopEater Staff Posted Oct 21st 2010 05:00PM

Lisa Marie Presley and Oprah Winfrey sat down in the English countryside to discuss her ex-husband Michael Jackson after his shocking death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs last year.

Presley explained why she wanted to talk about Jackson now. "Every time I've ever had an interview in the past, I tend to get very defensive because I was usually promoting something and it would always cross into my personal life."

"I wanted to sit and really have a conversation about things that are more on a personal level, before I do have an album coming out," she said.

"I didn't understand my relationship with him," Presley admitted of how she felt when she was with the King of Pop from 1994 to 1996.

She realizes now why people though their relationship was a sham. "To some degree, he was a master at manipulating a little bit with the media. I understand that nobody really knew who I was. They just assumed I was going along with something he would be doing."

"He was conditioned to get himself where he needed to go for his career and with his talent. He became very good at making and creating and pupeteering and manipulating to some degree," Presley continued. "I always confused that manipulation thinking that that manipulation meant that he didn't love me. I understand it better now. The manipulation was because it was a survival tactic for him."

Lisa Marie said she was in England when she heard the news and John Travolta was one of the first to break it to her.

When Oprah asked what she felt, she replied, "Real honest to goodness shock, not even tears. I was floored, honestly floored."

On Jackson's drug problem, she claims she didn't notice until the very end of their marriage. "I didn't really suspect and catch on until just before I filed for divorce. There was just an occasion, an incident where he had collapsed and he was in the hospital," she described of the scene in 1995 when Jackson collapsed while rehearsing for an HBO concert and doctors blamed it on a viral infection.

"It was very confusing what was wrong. Every day there was a different report. And I couldn't tell what was happening," she added. "I couldn't really get a straight answer about what was happening with him and I think we were all a little bit in the dark. At that point, I think I got from various indications that that was going on then."

"There were times that I would pick him up from certain doctors' offices and he would not be coherent," Presley remembered.

Something she wanted to make clear, their romance was for real. "I honestly can tell you, it was every sense a normal marriage."

"One of the very highest points of my life was when things were going really well and he and I were united together and he and I had an understanding about some of the people and things that could go on around him and he was with me on those things and we were a unit and I could take care of him," she told Oprah.

"For some reason, I don't know what happens when someone passes away and this is what's come of it. But I've come to have all this love again and understanding for him. I don't know why it had to take all that to have this happen. That upsets me a bit," Presley opined.

"Were you angry with him before?" Oprah questioned.

"I was very angry. I was so angry. I felt that we were so united and then at some point he pushed me out."

"There was a very profound point in the marriage when he had to make a decision -- was it the drugs and the sort of vampires or me? And he pushed me away."

She compared Jackson to her father, Elvis Presley. "The one thing that correlates with Michael and my father on this subject, they had the luxury of creating whatever reality around them they wanted to create."

Winfrey brought up the similar way in which both her father and her ex-husband lived and died.

"It really blows me away, to be honest with you. I still try to figure out why? What is it that I had to go through this twice?" she recalled. "I went through it once, that was painful and I went through it again."

She reveals that she wished she had reached out to Jackson before his death. "I know it's naive to think that I could have (saved him) but I wanted to. Had I made a call, had I stopped being so shut off from him, had I just said 'How are you?' I really regret that I didn't."

Tags: lisa marie presley, michael jackson

Comments

(231)

Friday 22 October

By anomismevaughn

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She does look druged out. you are so right.

Saturday 23 October

By angela

Lisa has ALWAYS looked and spoken this way. Maybe this is the first time you've guys have seen her.

Thursday 21 October

By flashfame

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um...Michael Jackson did not die of drug addiction. He was murdered.

By Gandalf

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Wrong. Michael Jackson definitely died because he was an addict. He just had enough money to make the doctors around him give him what he wanted, even though it was dangerous and illegal. The doctors were wrong to do that, but the bottom line was it was his responsibility.

By Mike

It makes no sense that Jackson's doctor would purposely murder him. Why kill off the goose that lays the golden eggs? However, logic would suggest that he was spineless when his client kept asking for drugs. Maybe the doc didn't want to lose so well-paying a client. As far as Jackson's drug problem is concerned, Jackson might not have figured out the exact details of his death but it's hard to ignore the fact that he said on multiple occasions that he never intended to be an old man.

By Tanya

Exactly. He didn't die of a prescription drug overdose. Since when is propofol prescribed? A doctor gave him the meds, and it was propofol that killed him. He did not have an addiction to painkillers like Elvis did. I'm so tired of the lies and deceit. LMP trying to make it seem that she split with MJ because of his drug problem??? Really?? He did have an addiction to painkillers before, and he got help for it. The autopsy report did not show ANY painkillers. People need to get it straight.

By cfreeperson

From Michael Jackson's autopsy report:

In addition to propofol, the autopsy revealed that Jackson had a veritable pharmacy flowing in his veins, with traces of lidocaine, diazepam, nordiazepam, lorazepam, midazolam and ephedrine in his blood.

Seems pretty plain to me.

By lety

I agree with you !!!

By Temporal

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MURDER ??? BS was a burn out drug usein pervert

By abc

I'll bet Elvis wouldn't have "understood" the relationship either.

By Bullnitty

Yes elvis would of new why she liked MJ? cause all elvis did was copy what the black people did in rock and roll. so lisa just went out and got the real thing!

By *

Flashfame...thats where your wrong. He was murdered as a result of his drug abuse. Had he not used drugs the way he did he would still be alive. So sad, all that talent gone.

By NurseRiverBoat

Michael Jackson's doctor is to blame 100%. A real MD doesn't give an addict the drugs he wants.
No doctor who has any balls whatsoever gives in to his client, knowing full well that what the client wants is illegal.

YES, it is possible that Lisa Marie could have saved MJ's life had she just reached out to him.
What is so hard about that?

It's just a little phone call.
What else is Lisa Marie busy with these days? I know she has children but they don't dominate her entire life 24/7.

She could have found 5 minutes to ring MJ.
Now all she is is full of regret.

I'd hate to live my life that way.

So the lesson learned is to reach out and do what's right.
Even if it hurts you alot.

Do what's right. That's the stepping stone to living a life void of regret and recrimination.

By george clooney

Nurseriverboat....I am rolling on the floor laughing my a** off. Are you for real? Why didn't you reach out to Michael and you could have saved his life? You are nothing but a pimp! Everyone at fault but the victim! Michael Jackson was a child molester that is in hell right now. Do you hear me? HELL. This was NO murder...it was GOD yanking a child molester off this planet!

By Nurse123

Wow, really? his doctors are 100 % to blame? You don't think the drug addict is 100 % to blame? Its his own fault he is dead, and yes the doctors are at fault for giving him drugs, but ultimately it was his decision and he paid with his life. Hopefully those doctors have lost their licenses to practice medicine and spend 25 to life in prison.. But he was still the idiot that took the drugs. And who uses Propofol? People needing anesthesia!

By sharon

You are nuts!

By great granny

We can all say, "what if, If I'd, I could have, etc". but that doesnt change a thing. Nothing would be different. Stop tormenting yourselves. Try to live for today. try to live for those who love you or those who will love you. live for yourself. It is what it is. accept that and be happy if you can.

By trmnatr2

Jackson did what every drug addict does when they O.D.,his body became tolerant to the drugs to the point he didnt feel them.Elvis did the same thing.

By jeffrey lebowski

two things: first, the avoidance of sex clearly indicates that there wasn't any, and second, if lisa "didn't understand" the nature of her relationship with mikey, that makes it unanimous because no one else did, either...

By anon

If you havent seen the full interview than you really should to put the above quotes in context. She was very honest but respectful of her life with Michael and of him as a person and her father. She's had extradinory men in her life and very few if any of us can really understand the life she's lived or who she is as a person. Much of what she was saying has been backed up by previous claims. She lives a very private life and to say she did this for self promotion or for the money is seriously misguided. I wish her and her new twins the best. I look forward to her new album next year.

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