Lisa Marie Presley 'Didn't Understand' Her Relationship With Michael Jackson
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."
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I too am a fan of Lisa's, and I am also a fan of Elvis's and Michael Jackson's. I think the most revealing thing about this interview was something that I knew all along- that Lisa and Michael Jackson were still involved for four years after their marriage ended. ( the videos are all over youtube of many of their travels-after they were divorced) She loved Michael and basically said no one ever made her feel like he did... that loving him was such a high when everything was going well. It was a very warm and loving tribute to a man who she loved as much as her father. I always thought that they were such a cute and sweet couple... They were the loves of each others lives. I just wish that they were left alone by the media, and that Michael had gotten follow up to rehab after he went to rehab when he was dating Lisa ( she and Liz Taylor made him go) and that there were a couple of Presley-Jacksons in the world, they would have made beautiful kids together. I love the way Lisa's face lit up when she talked about how addicted she was to him, and how much she loved taking care of him when they were together. The truth is though, a drug addicted person puts the drugs first. I feel for Lisa Marie, she had to go through that pain twice, once with her dad, and once with her ex-husband. Two beautiful, magnificent Kings of music who I know will always be in her heart, and she will protect their memories like a lioness. Don't ever diss MJ when you are around Lisa Marie Presley- she will have your head! Thankfully. LOVE her for that. : )
Thank you, Anon
I saw the FULL interview and was surprised at how much weight Lisa Marie has gained. She seemed out of sorts as her eyes fluttered all over the place and the eye makeup was entirely wrong. She really didn't tell us any more than we already knew. Best wishes to Lisa. She used to look like a little darling, but...Oh well, She has money and lots of it and we don't.
I'll always believe the Scientologists hooked them up to make Michael Jackson look "normal" as their wedding coincided with the sex abuse allegations. He paid the Scientology church mega bucks to make it go away and they gave him their favorite follower, Lisa Marie Presley. Just my conspiracy theory.
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Lisa Marie is a scientologist and I'm sure was trying to persuade Michael Jackson to convert in order for their group to get their hands on his money and influence. When Michael realized this he back off from her. Elvis would be so ashamed of Lisa Marie if he could see her now.
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I watched the entire show and for those small minded people that spread their hate, this girl WAS NOT STONED!!! She spoke with a lot of thought behind what she said and spoke very eloquently. I was very impressed with her....take your hatred and judgement somewhere else!
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Oprah and LM planned this long ago so she had time to get it together. I don't plan OW as much as I do LMP. Now she can see her album.
"I honestly can tell you, it was every sense a normal marriage."
Uh huh... I believe you, and so does my wife, Morgan Fairchild.
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Quite right. A normal marriage... of TWO years. o.O
How the h**k can someone be married to a person for a couple years and not know he has a drug problem...and the marriage was normal? I guess anyone with a link to showbiz has a different definition of " normal " than the rest of us.
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looks like she inherited her father's weight problem too
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I have no idea what anyone sees in Kanye West or his music--NO TALENT--NO PERSONALITY
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Poor Lisa.... she can't sing, by her behavior she's not telling the truth and her eyes tell of possible drug use. Poor thing should just go away!
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Uh... Lisa thought her marriage with Michael was "a normal marriage"? If so, why did she divorce him? I'll bet she also thought the marriage between her father and mother was also normal? Maybe that's the problem?
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"John Travolta was one of the first to break it to her"? How many times was it broken to her?
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I think it's like mother, like daughter....Priscilla took a hike too. A good wife could have and should have Shanghied her husband and kept him hidden until he was clean. With that much money, it would have been possible !!!!!!!!!!
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i am so sorry to hear that from PRESLEY because what I heard in the biography of THE KING OF POP it's not how she feels today
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I lived long enough to see both the careers of Elvis and Micheal from the very beginning to the very end.I loved and still do there great music and entertainment talents. Two musical geniuses. All I can say is that regardless of the reason they died or who is at fault we will never see anyone equal to them in our life time. Maybe never
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Elvis a musical genius? Hardly. The man covered songs written by black musicians to make them more palatable for a racist white audience. I am speaking honestly here, as a white woman who really doesn't have an opinion of Elvis other than that his career took a turn for the ridiculous at the end.
Who cares what she has to say. MJ was a perverted worthless child molester. Thank God he is dead.
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