Why ELSE would an innocent man settle? Because of LISA-MARIE PRESLEY

Sept. 1994 for ‘Ebony’

Michael Jackson and Lisa-Maria Presley fell in love with each other several months before the civil settlement with the Chandlers in January 1994.  Little is known of the fact that Lisa-Maria was very much in favor of ending the matter with a pay out.

As the molestation  accusations became public, Michael became dependent on Lisa Marie for emotional support.  She was concerned about his faltering health and addiction to drugs and tried to persuade  him to settle the allegations out of court and go into rehabilitation to recover. He subsequently did both.

R.Taraborelli:

“Unbeknownst to even Michael’s attorneys, Lisa Marie Presley had also tried to influence his decision to settle. A seasoned survivor of many publicity wars, she had long through that Michael should end the matter with a cash pay out. She was finally able to convince him that, as she later put it, “some things, like a good night’s sleep, are more important than public opinion.” He wanted to get on with his life, Michael said, so that he could finally marry Lisa.  Not much movement had occurred in their relationship since his odd proposal to her on the telephone, and he was afraid that she was becoming impatient with him. “The only thing I got out of therapy is that it’s my responsibility to have a good life,” he said, “and maybe I can have that with Lisa. I don’t want to lose her now.”

Below you will find an incredibly detailed research made by La Cienega at http://lacienegasmiled.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/1993-1998-lisa-marie-presley/ which provides full information on Michael and Lisa-Maria’s relationship in the period 1993-1998 and up to 2009.

This is only a short excerpt from her blog about Michael’s and Lisa’s love budding sometime in 1992/93 and flourishing into a full-time love affair in January 1994 (while their wedding was in May 1994 only). Though their marriage was somewhat unexpected for the general public it didn’t look that sudden to the ‘insiders’ who could see their romance developing in front of their eyes.

But first let me give you some idea of the events which formed a unique BACKGROUND for the unique relationship of this man and woman:

– THE CHANDLERS’ camp met Michael in May 1992 when his car broke down near their work-place. Michael was asked by Jordan’s stepfather to telephone the boy in return for a free provision of a rented car and Michael did call Jordan several times while being on a tour. They met again only in February 1993.  Jordan went to Neverland and other places together with his mother, sister and Michael in March-April, 1993.  The ‘bad things’ allegedly happened in May-June and were over by July 1993. The accusations were made on August 17 and the media went wild on August 23, 1993. The financial settlement was reached in January 1994.

– LISA-MARIA PRESLEY was still married to her first husband Danny Keough at the time (they married on Oct.3, 1988).  Her second child Benjamin was born on October 21, 1992. When Lisa-Maria met Michael ‘things moved very quickly.  They stayed on the phone every day. In April 1994 Presley announced that she and Keough were separating but would remain on good terms for their children’s sake. Later that month she flew to the Dominican Republic to get a quick divorce which was finalized on May 8, 1994.  Some two and a half weeks after the divorce she married Michael Jackson on May 26, 1994.

– in the same period MICHAEL JACKSON was preparing for the first 45 shows of his Dangerous tour (June 27 – December 31, 1992).  He gave an interview to Oprah Winfrey’s on February 10, 1993 where he talked of his vitiligo for the first time. On March 9 Michael sprained his ankle whereupon he walked on crutches and sang sittting in a chair. On May 5 he and Lisa Maria Presley attended a Kids celebration at OMNI.  On May 9-12 Michael took Jordan, Lily and their mother June Chandler to Monaco to attend the World Music Awards Ceremony. The 2nd leg of his Dangerous tour started on August 24, 1993 (the next day after the media hue and cry began) and lasted until November 11, 1993 when the remaining shows were cancelled and Michael went to Europe for treatment against his dependence on painkillers. On December 10, 1993 he returned to the USA and was subjected to a horrifying strip search on Dec. 20. He made his statement via satellite on December 22, 1993 saying he was completely innocent.

I wonder if Tom Sneddon meant the humiliation of a strip search to be a special Christmas present for Michael or did it just happen this way? Well, despite the high expectations of the search it brought the prosecution nowhere –  on January 27, 1994 , the next day after settling the case with the Chandlers the Reuters press agency reported that Jordan’s description of Michael’s genitalia was not accurate. Everyone was so excited with the millions the Chandlers received that no one paid attention to the poorly-publicized fact that there was actually nothing to pay for.

It is completely understandable that with the beginning of the new 1994 year Michael was yearning for the Chandler ordeal to come to an end and hoping to start his life anew with the girl he loved. Their love affair was in full swing as now she was staying by him day and night…

Read the story which started as a business relationship, turned into a friendship and flourished into love:

HAPPY…

LMP, Deseret News – Oct 11, 1992
Another Presley – Elvis’ daughter Lisa Marie – is developing a singing voice in the hopes of starting a music career. She has been singing and writing her own material for demo records.

Excerpt from “Child Bride” by Suzanne Finstad:
November 1992, LMP and MJ meet at Brett Livingstone’s house:
“He had become a successful artist, famous for a million-dollar portrait he had painted of Michael Jackson, who had become his personal friend. Brett, the great connector, considered introducing Lisa to Michael. “She had the talent as well as the beauty and the name, so I thought Wow! The sky is the limit. What an image! I had known Michael for six years or more, and I thought maybe I could introduce Lisa to Michael Jackson. I thought, Hey, the person to get is Michael Jackson, because he’s an artist, instead of dealing with businessmen who would just categorize her and work her way up.” Michael had a new record label, Brett knew, and was looking for exciting, undiscovered talent. Who better than Lisa Marie Presley? “I didn’t discuss this with anyone,” said Brett. “I just thought about it and went about my business and thought that sometime in the future Lisa would like to have a conversation with Michael. Lisa wanted to emerge a full-blown star, and Michael Jackson, Brett believed, could help her.
Several months after the idea occurred to him, Brett telephoned Lisa, who was taking courses at the Scientology center in Clearwater, Florida. He said, “Lisa, if you’re really serious about your career, why don’t I put you in touch with Michael Jackson?….I think you should meet him and play your music and sing for him, and I think he could really encourage and inspire you on a direction you could take.” Brett told her that Michael had his own company, Nation Records, sponsored by Sony, and that he could “really launch her big time.” Lisa was intrigued.

Brett’s next step was to telephone Michael Jackson. “I said, ‘Michael, what would you say if I found talent for you that had the potential to be number one in the world in the recording industry—beautiful girl, great voice and also a reputation that would be a public relations dream come true?’ and he said, ‘Who are you talking about?’ So I said, ‘Lisa Presley.’ And he said, ‘What? She can’t sing!’ and I said, ‘She can.’ And then I asked, ‘Have you ever met Lisa?’ and he said no.” The conversation, recalled Brett, was brief, followed by lots of other conversations about it. Michael was “amazed at first, and then said, ‘Well get her to send me a tape.’ ”
At the time, neither Michael nor Lisa recalled their fleeting meeting introduction backstage, at the Sahara Tahoe when Lisa was six and Michael was sixteen. Lisa’s close childhood friend Myrna Smith, who was with Jerry and Joe Esposito when they took Lisa to that long-ago concert, confirmed this. “Lisa didn’t even remember meeting Michael as a child,” Myrna said. “She asked me, ‘Did I ever meet Michael Jackson?’ and I said, ‘Don’t you remember? We took you to see the Jacksons.’ ”

When Brett told Lisa about his conversation with Michael, she was offended that she would have to send a demo. She told Brett, “Forget it, I’ll play the tape for him in person.” Lisa called Brett constantly afterward, inquiring about the meeting with Michael. She told Myrna excitedly that Brett had arranged to have Michael and her get together at his house in Pacific Palisades and for Lisa to play her demo tape.
Lisa took her husband Danny, along to that meeting, and the group gathered in Brett’s living room. “Michael…was blown away by her music,” according to Brett. “She played the tape and was really excited that Michael Jackson was here, and at that point, she looked like a fan of his. And he was really tickled to see that she had a lot of potential, but he didn’t think too much more than ‘Wow, Brett is onto something here.’ ” There was, according to Brett, not even the slightest suggestion of anything romantic between Lisa and Michael at that meeting. “Her husband was here.”

Michael carried on with his own career interests after that meeting, but Lisa, recalled Brett, “kept calling me after that. Constantly calling me. And she wanted to get together with Michael more.” Lisa met with Brett a few times to talk about it, remarking that she had “a few things in common with the Jacksons and maybe she should pursue a friendship with Michael.” Brett, still their intermediary, offered to represent Lisa in a business contract with Michael for a recording deal, even though he had an art partnership with Michael and had been his friend for years. Brett had worked up some figures and talked to Michael, who arranged for Brett to take Lisa to meet with Michael Greenberg, the head of Jackson’s company, Nation Records in Santa Monica.

Lisa brought Danny along with her attorney, John Coale. “I didn’t know anything about that business,” said Brett, “but I wanted to make sure that Lisa made a deal at the top level…by saying, ‘Hey, Elvis is the King and she’s the Princess. She’s got the talent. All she needs is Michael to help record at the highest possible level and help her choose the songs and teach her some presence on stage. I was trying to get Michael to…make a deal with Lisa at the top—the deal that the other recording companies were making with Madonna and Barbara Streisand. And he was like, ‘Are you crazy? They have proven themselves.’
And I said, ‘No, make the same deal; a deal over a period of time…based on performance as the records sell. And not only will you make the deal with Lisa, you’ll promote the company.’ And I knew that’s what Lisa would love, if she was put on a pedestal.”

 

Lisa’s uncle, Larry King, (aired April 16, 2005)
GARY HOVEY, UNCLE: She went to meet with record people, with a manager, and the deal was just about set. She didn’t do the deal because she became pregnant with Ben, her second child, so it all got put on hold a year or two later, whenever she became interested in singing again, which happened to coincide with the time she met with Michael.
ZAHN: Five years into Lisa’s marriage to Danny Keogh, the relationship was buckling. It was during this time that a fledgling friendship with Michael Jackson began to evolve.

“Magic and Madness,” JRandy, Lisa Marie, November 1992
“I always liked him,” Lisa Marie recalled. “Michael fascinated me with his talent. I loved watching him dance. He wanted to know me better, but I always thought he was sort of freakish. I didn’t really want to know him any better than I already did.”
At this time, Lisa had recorded four songs produced by her husband. She felt she had a lot to say about her unusual life as daughter of an icon, and she was looking for a way to say it through her lyrics and music. “I had a voice,” she once told me, in retrospect, “but I didn’t have the experience. Things always got too wild when people found out that Elvis’s daughter wanted to sing. It became a matter of deals and money, money, money: I lost my fire for it. I lost the urge to create. I was scared, I guess, so I pulled back.”
She had no confidence in herself as a vocalist,” Said Brett Livingstone Stone. “She was afraid of being compared to Elvis, afraid of rejection. When I suggested Michael could help her, she said, “He’s a superstar, do you really think he’d help me?” After dinner at my house, Lisa played tapes of some of her music, and Michael was blown away. He told her, “You have real talent… a fine voice. You could be a star. Let me see what I can do for you.”
As she sat with him and listened to stories about his life in the business, she found herself falling under his spell. According to Brett Livingstone, when Michael was about to leave, he offered Lisa a penetrating look and in a conspiratorial voice said, “You and me, we could get into a lot of trouble. Think about that, girl.”

San Jose Mercury News , Nov 23, 1992
New once-again mom Lisa Marie Presley, 24, is said to be working on her debut album.

Excerpt from Child Bride, February 1, 1993
Lisa was torn. Part of her was in “turmoil,” recalled Brett, “on her mind was ‘I have my kids,’ and she was in turmoil with her husband and what should she do? If she wanted to be a star, she had to really want to live and breathe that.”
Michael Jackson also advised Lisa similarly: If she wanted to pursue a singing career, she would have to dedicate herself to it. During the following weeks, Brett found herself the hapless man in the middle, caught between a balking and busy Michael, and an ambivalent yet driven Lisa.
Brett made arrangements for Lisa to visit Michael in Japan while he was on the tour for Dangerous, and tried to facilitate other plans, some of which occurred while others dissipated. According to Brett, Lisa was, “in relentless pursuit of Michael Jackson,” and phoned [Brett] constantly to find out whether the deal would occur.
Michael, in Brett’s characterization, was obviously intrigued by the thought of signing Lisa Presley, “but there was more desire on Lisa’s part for something to happen.” Lisa, he recalled, finally said to him, “It doesn’t seem like I can make that deal with him, and I don’t want to push him too much.”
Brett, who was still hoping to bring them together for a record deal, finally arranged for a representative from Michael’s office to send a formal letter to Lisa stating that Michael was still interested in keeping things going. At the same time, Prince also began pursuing Lisa to sign a recording contract.
Lisa celebrated her twenty-fifth birthday with a huge party, planned by Priscilla, at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Prince was among the guests, along with a sprinkling of celebrity Scientologists such as Kirstie Alley, Nicole Kidman, and Juliette Lewis. Lisa invited Michael Jackson as her special guest, “and he would have loved to have gone,” said Brett, “but he had other things.” Brett suggested to Michael that he should at least send Lisa a birthday gift, “so he told me, ‘Well you go get it!’ ” Brett selected, as Michael’s gift to Lisa, an art book on Michelangelo and a silver picture frame in which he placed a photograph of Michael and Lisa’s original meeting in his living room.
Brett, attempting to be gallant on Michael’s behalf, wrote sweet birthday inscriptions in the art book and on the birthday card, making them appear to be from Michael. “I was just trying to be a good friend for him,” said Brett. “I went to the party with my son Jason, and when I got there, Lisa was like, ‘Oh! Where’s Michael? I hope it’s all right that Prince is here.’ I said, ‘Michael just couldn’t make it, but here is a gift from him.’ And I didn’t say anything [else].” Lisa, he recalled, “latched onto the gifts excitedly and immediately opened them to check them out.”
He later figured out, said Brett, that he had inadvertently played matchmaker to Michael and Lisa by buying the birthday gifts, for Lisa, seeing the card and the inscription in the art book, both of which she believed to have been written by Michael, misinterpreted Brett’s affectionate words as an indication that Michael Jackson had feelings for her. “I wasn’t trying to bring two people together to get married. I look back on it now as a sign that [she was thinking], Wow! He really cares about me. And she secretly wanted a relationship with him, because I always talked about him as a passionate man [who was] extremely loving…and that attracted Lisa, that loving part, and loving children.”
Lisa never knew that Brett wrote the birthday card and signed her book. “I can’t recall what I wrote exactly in the book or card,” said Brett, “but that might have been something she read over and over again and thought, Jeez! And afterwards, Lisa kept calling me, and eventually, after the many calls and pursuits and my little bit of fairy dust that I sprinkled about the place, hey, those guys [got] together, and I thought, ‘Maybe they’ll record something,’
And I remember Lisa saying, ‘Brett, what do you want out of this?’ and Michael Jackson asked me the same thing, and I thought, ‘Boy, there must be something happening here.’

Pittsburg Post Gazette, 23 Feb 1993
Lisa Marie Presley, only daughter of Elvis, has decided to embark on a singing career. It’s all tentative, but this week’s People magazine says that Presley – who looks a powerful lot like her cultural icon daddy – has recorded four demon tapes produced by her husband, musician Danny Keough. Her tastes run to rock and R&B, and a friend says she sounds a lot like a black Bonnie Raitt.” Mercy. But don’t get too hepped up: Presley, the mother of two children, won’t do anything too mondo until her 4 month old is a little bigger. However she continues to dye her blond hair black. Tell me that doesn’t mean something.

Anchorage Daily News, 24 February, 1993
“I’ve always had an ear for it, and I’ve always felt music,” the 25 year old daughter of Elvis and Priscilla tells People magazine. “I’ve been around it all my life. I definitely have it in me.”
“Dark hair really suits my personality,” she says. “I’m pretty aggressive and fiery. I don’t act like a blonde.”

“Child Bride,” Late February, 1993
In late February, a few weeks after her 25th birthday, Jerry Schilling received a mysterious phone call from Lisa. “Something is going on,” she told Jerry, “but I can’t tell you what. And it has nothing to do with you, but I’m not going to continue with this record contract right now.”
Lisa told him, said Jerry, that she was busy with her new baby and wanted to put the Epic deal on hold. Jerry, who had no idea Lisa had even met with Michael Jackson, simply said fine and puzzled over what might be happening in Lisa’s life.
Mike Edwards, who had also remained close to Brett after his breakup with Priscilla, began getting phone calls from an amazed Brett about this time. “He’s saying, ‘Gosh, Lisa’s calling me and Lisa’s really interested in Michael!’ ” Brett’s impression, said Mike Edwards, was that Michael was absorbed in his work, but that Lisa was really interested in him. “And I said, ‘Come on! What do you mean?’ [Brett] said, ‘You haven’t met him, but he’s very charismatic.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, but I can’t believe it.’ He said, ‘Yeah, she’s kind of pursuing him.’ And I went, ‘My God! What’s gonna happen?’”
“I could see that Lisa fell in love with him,” confirmed Brett. What attracted her in part, he felt, was that Michael was not after her money. “I think she didn’t know him very well, though. She didn’t know his quirks and eccentric lifestyle, and she thought, This guy is going to be great. A stepfather for my kids.”
Lisa, according to Brett, was the one who was in pursuit. “I think it was the passion of a woman who fell in love. And Michael wasn’t even interested at all. And he is a gentleman, he wouldn’t have wanted to pull her away from her marriage to Danny. And she pursued him.
Family friend Bob Wall, who heard about it after the fact, confirmed this. “I know that Lisa is the one who pursued the relationship.” She did it, Bob felt, to create an identity separate from the Presley name, to be known as something other than “the daughter of.” “Lisa really wants to be credible,” said Bob. “You’ve got her father, who’s a genius. Her mother’s done incredibly well. And all she’s got is a lot of money. So maybe that’s important to her, to create her own identity.”

Excerpt Child Bride, Around March 21st, 1993
Brett, seeing the progression of the friendship, suggested that Michael take Lisa to the Oscar ceremony that March, just as he had escorted Madonna the year before, but Michael balked, since Lisa was a married woman. The relationship intensified on Michael’s part that fall however, after 13 year-old Jordan Chandler accused him of child molestation, causing a scandal to erupt worldwide. Later, Michael would quietly escort Lisa to the Jackson Family Honors.

Lisa, who was then spending time with Myrna Smith, a childhood friend who used to sing with Lisa when Lisa was a child, told Myrna about her secret romance with Michael Jackson. Myrna perceived that Lisa felt sorry for Michael because of the sexual molestation charges and the devastating effect the scandal had had on his career and his image. Myrna also believed Lisa had sincere feelings for Michael. “Yes, she did, according to what she told me.  She did.  She’s like her father—they like the underdog…she did it for her own reasons, but she didn’t do it because Michael coerced her. She genuinely cared about him and she thought he cared for her.”

Myrna, who knew and knew of Michael through music circles, tried to warn Lisa about the relationship, which she considered both dangerous and absurd. “I can only guess what his motives were, and I could only tell what I thought, what a smart businessman he was, and that he was only pursuing her for what she could do for him, and that he wasn’t interested in women.

And she told me he was.” Lisa did not tell Myrna whether she and Michael had sex, though Brett believed they did. “Yeah, sure, I think, because of what happened. I didn’t want to ask any questions. I could have asked Lisa the nitty-gritty.”

May 5, 1993
Michael is invited by ex president Jimmy Carter to Atlanta in order to boost the Atlanta Immunisation Drive. Afterwards, Michael joins Ted Turner, Jane Fonda, Emmanuel Lewis & Lisa Marie Presley in the front row during the Kids Celebration at OMNI.

 

JRandy on Lisa Marie, Mid 1993
He truly was misunderstood, he told her. “I know you think I’m gay,” he said. “But I’m not. I get tired of people thinking I am gay. But, oh well, fuck them. I know you’ve heard a lot of things about me, in fact, he continued, but most of it isn’t true. And that stuff that is true, you shouldn’t hold against me.” He winked at her.
“Hey, I’m a married woman,” Lisa said. “And you’re coming on to me.”
“Yes, but are you happy?” Michael asked.
“No.”
“See?” Michael remarked. “I knew that. You look like a woman who needs to let go and have some fun. You look like a woman who needs to hook up with me.”
Lisa recalled, “I thought to myself, Wow, this is a real guy. He swears. He’s funny. I told him, ‘Dude, if people knew who the hell you really are, they would be so surprised. People wouldn’t think I was so crazy for being into you if they saw who you really are; that you sit around and you drink and you curse and you’re fucking funny, and you have a bad mouth and you don’t have that high voice all the time.’”

JRandy on Lisa Marie, August, 1993
“I was in on the beginning of the molestation stuff, and I was getting the phone calls, and he was telling me that it was extortion,” she recalled. “I believed him at the time. I mean, I was convinced. He was freaking out. I believe that he didn’t do anything wrong, and that he was being wrongly accused and yes, I started falling for him. I wanted to save him. I felt that I could do it.”

JRandy, Michael’s addiction to painkillers, September, 1993
When Michael telephoned Lisa from overseas in September 1993, he was high, incoherent and delusional. Alarmed, Lisa attempted to convince Michael to do as she had once done, enter a rehabilitation centre.
“Absolutely, I felt that I had a responsibility to save him,” she said. “I don’t know the psychology of it and what it had to with my father. I only know what I felt.”

November 12, 1993
Michael announces he is cancelling his world tour to seek treatment for an addiction to painkillers.

JRandy, November/December, 1993
Michael decided to calm himself by calling the one person who could somehow help him forget that his career hung in the balance: Lisa.
She had certainly been persistent in her pursuit of him. She left telephone numbers for a house she was renting in Canoga Park, California.
She also left the number of the new three acre estate which had just purchased and was getting ready to occupy on Long Valley Road in Hidden Hills.
Then, just to be sure, she left the number where she could be reached in Clearwater, Florida, where she was planning to spend time at the Scientology retreat. She even sent him party balloons with messages attached. Somehow, she could always put a smile back on his face, even if it was just her raspy voice proclaiming, “Oh, fuck them!” He found her in Canoga Park.
Michael valued Lisa’s settling effect on him, so much so that during his phone conversation, he posed a question that surprised both of them. “If I asked you to marry me, would you do it?” Was this a joke? A hypothetical? Or was it a dare for Lisa to take him seriously? If it was a dare, Lisa was the woman to take it – even though she was still married to Danny Keough. Without missing a beat, she replied, “I would do it.” Michael didn’t say a word, at first. He then said, “Hold on, I have to use the bathroom.”
When he finally did speak into the phone again, he was speaking to his new fiancée. “My love for you is real,” Michael told Lisa. “Please, believe me.”
Unbeknownst to even Michael’s attorneys, Lisa Marie Presley had also tried to influence his decision to settle. A seasoned survivor of many publicity wars, she had long through that Michael should end the matter with a cash pay out. She was finally able to convince him that, as she later put it, “some things, like a good night’s sleep, are more important than public opinion.”
He wanted to get on with his life, Michael said, so that he could finally marry Lisa. Not much movement had occurred in their relationship since his odd proposal to her on the telephone, and he was afraid that she was becoming impatient with him. “The only thing I got out of therapy is that it’s my responsibility to have a good life,” he said, “and maybe I can have that with Lisa. I don’t want to lose her now.”

December 10, 1993
Michael returns from Europe to Neverland.

Excerpt Child Bride, Christmas 1993
By Christmas 1993, Lisa was discussing with Myrna the possibility of marrying Michael Jackson. “He told her,” said Myrna, “that she was the only woman he could see himself marrying. And I was like, ‘You gotta be kidding.’ ” Myrna recalled that Lisa responded, “Myrna, you don’t understand.”

JRandy, January 1994,
One of his closest advisers says: “Michael was living full time at Neverland Ranch. And all of a sudden, here comes Lisa Marie on the stairs in a bathrobe. We thought, “Well, hey, what’s up here? She spent the night up there? With Michael? And then here comes Michael down the stairs in his Mickey Mouse pajamas with a big grin on his face. The two were lovey dovey at breakfast and she hasn’t left his side since then. “

According to staff at Neverland, they knew things were serious when Lisa Marie began ordering around the servants. “Michael started talking about his “girlfriend” Lisa Marie. And she was around all the time,” said one.

“No woman has ever given orders to Michael’s servants, except for Elizabeth Taylor – and even she checks with Michael first before she asks for a Diet Coke.”
He was kissing her fairly passionately and, from many accounts, in public places. He seemed to enjoy doing it, too.

“I’m not a woman who goes for the norm, anyway,” Lisa said in explaining her attraction to him. “I like strange guys, the ones on the edge, the ones with an edge, the ones with fire in their bellies. That was Michael, to me.”

“Apparently, Michael Jackson is a freak in bed,” said Lisa’s friend Monica Pastelle. “Lisa said he was amazing, and she’s been around. Everyone was saying, ‘No way, Lisa. It can’t be true. Michael Jackson? Are we talking about the Michael Jackson, the one with the glove?’” However, she wasn’t joking, and it wasn’t long before she didn’t think it was funny, either.”
“He liked her to wear jewelry in bed. They were into role playing games, though Lisa would never say who was playing what kind of role.”

When Lisa didn’t become immediately pregnant, even before they were married, he began to express his disappointment. “I want children,” he said, “and I thought we would be expecting one within a couple of weeks of making love. But Lisa says it takes time. I don’t have time,” he said. “I want it to happen, now. I want children so badly.”

David Foster’s memoir Hit Man, sometime early 1994
Michael was also interesting to hang out with. The better I got to know him, the more elusive he seemed. One moment, in a little-boy voice, he would curse the head of Sony Music. “That Tommy Mottola is a mean person,” he’d say, sounding like a six-year-old. In the studio, he’d be a pro, a regular guy, and we really connected. (He struck me as Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly rolled into one). And with Lisa Marie Presley, whom he was dating at the time, he would be somebody else entirely.

My kids were visiting from Los Angeles – three of my daughters and [my then-wife] Linda’s two sons – and one night they decided they wanted to go to the movies. We were staying at the Plaza Hotel, and Michael rented me a magnificent suite – on a low floor – that must have had six bedrooms. It was a palace, a lot better than the Zen-like concrete bunker at the Delano.

“I can’t go to the movies,” Michael said. We all knew what he meant: He couldn’t go out in public without creating a ****-storm among the paparazzi. And one of the kids said, “We can dress you up and disguise you.”

And that’s what they did. They got in an elevator and went down to his suite and dressed him up in their own clothes. They put a scarf on him, and some jeans, and they tucked his hair under a cap and turned it to the side, gangster-style.

We had the valet bring the van around, and we piled in without incident. There were some paparazzi out front, but they must have looked at us and figured we were nobodies. And it was very interesting, because Michael and Lisa Marie got separated when everyone scrambled into the van, and it was clear that he wanted her to sit next to him. On the way to the movie theater, he turned to her and said, “Lisa, here. Come here. Sit here.” He said it just like a regular man, not in that little-boy voice of his. It was like, You’re going to sit with me, woman, and she did. I was very impressed, but I was also confused. I mean, who was this guy?

Maybe she brought out the testosterone in him. I don’t know. But I do know this: she loved him. And that relationship became one of the biggest tabloid nightmares of all time.

JRandy, 1 February, 1994
On 1 February 1994, Michael telephoned Lisa Marie Presley at her estate in Hidden Hills, California. He was at his hide out in Westwood. “Hey, listen up, girl,” he said, according to her memory, “I’m heading up to Las Vegas to see The Temptations and The Fifth Dimension. Come with me. I’ll get us a suite at the Mirage and we can party like there’s no tomorrow.”
“Am I staying in the suite with you?” she asked.
“Hell, yeah,” Michael said. “What do you think, girl?”
“I think I’m still married,” Lisa said.
“Then separate rooms, if that’s what you want,” Michael responded.

February 2, 1994
Michael attends a concert of The Temptations at the Sheraton Desert Inn of Las Vegas with his date Lisa Marie Presley.

JRandy:
Lisa agreed to go; the next day, the two flew up to Vegas in Michael’s private plane.
Otis Williams of The Temptations once told me, “Man, we were backstage after the show, and her comes Mike with this chick, and he’s all up in her face, kissing on her, and we were saying, “Who the heck is this girl?” Finally he introduced her: Lisa Marie Presley. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I said to the guys, “Check this out. The King of Pop and the King’s daughter, together. It had to happen. They looked pretty cozy.”
Two weeks later, Lisa accompanied Michael again to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas for his appearance on the Jackson Family Honors Special.

JRandy, 21 February, 1994
When they got back from Las Vegas, on 21 February, Michael invited Lisa to Neverland. The two spent hours walking hand in hand on the well manicured property, as Lisa’s children, played with their nanny. Workers at the estate recall seeing Michael and Lisa kissing while high atop the Ferris wheel, then nodding graciously to the Neverland staff members as they sauntered from one ride to the next.
For the first two days, Lisa and her children stayed in one of the visitors’ units on the property. On the third night, Michael ordered a dinner of poached salmon and cucumber salad to be served to him and Lisa on one of the candle lit terraces. Afterwards he presented Lisa with a gift: a three strand, pearl choker with a diamond clasp at the front, worth about $50,000. That evening, while her children and their nanny slept in the guest quarters, Lisa stayed with Michael in his bedroom.

New York City, Trump Tower, April 28, 1994
Michael accepts a Caring For Kids award during the Children Choice Awards at the City Center in New York City (where he rents a three bedroom suite at the Trump Tower )

JRandy:
Donald recalls seeing Michael and Lisa walking hand in hand on his estate, seeming lost in a mutual dream. In a photograph taken that day, Lisa was elegantly dressed in a severely tailored, black silk dress that fell in fluid lines around her shapely figure. Michael was wearing a sharp, black suit, scarlet- colored shirt and a matching tie. At one point, he dropped to one knee and kissed her hand. She urged him to is feet; the two embrace. Michael gazed at her intensely, mesmerized by her face. They kissed. He pulled from his vest pocket a small, wrapped box. When she opened it, Lisa’s face lit up. Pearls.
“It was romantic,” Donald Trump recalled, “Later, I asked Michael how things were going and he said “Great. I just got to kiss the most beautiful girl in the world. I hope I’m worthy of her. I think I might marry her.”
“For a while, those two were really getting it on.”
“They made love at the Trump estate,” said another one of Lisa’s confidantes. “She said it was intense, it took her breath away. I have no idea what they were doing, or what he was doing to her, but since she gravitates toward the unconventional, she was out of her mind over this guy. Maybe it’s hard for some to believe,” she concluded “but true, just the same.”

People Magazine on this:
Jackson, who is worth an estimated $100 million, and Presley, whose own fortune tops out at $100 million, have been seen together around New York City for at least six months. Lisa Marie, according to one source, is a regular visitor to Jackson’s duplex apartment in Trump Tower, just beneath Donald and Maria Trump’s triplex home. The romance first came to light early this year, about the time Jackson settled the civil suit filed by the child who had accused him of sexual molestation. Jackson was spotted dining with his friends the Trumps at Manhattan’s Le Cirque restaurant. Apropos of nothing, Jackson suddenly said, “You know what? I’m in love. Her name is Lisa.”
A few weeks later, when Trump invited his friend to visit his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Michael asked, “Can I bring my love interest?” Jackson spent the week with Lisa Marie and her two children, Benjamin Storm, 21 months, and Danielle, 5. She and Michael stayed in separate bedrooms but were otherwise inseparable and affectionate. They spent nearly every evening in a part of the mansion called the Grand Tower, looking at the stars, and left the house together just once. “They walked down Worth Avenue,” says one witness, “and caused a big commotion and came right back.”
April 29, 1994
Lisa Marie announces separation from her husband, Danny Keough.
May 8, 1994
Lisa Marie’s divorce to Danny Keough is finalized.
May 25, 1994
Michael & Lisa Marie Presley arrive at Casa de Campo de Campo in Domenican Republic .
May 26, 1994
Michael & Lisa Marie secretly marry in a 12 minutes ceremony only attended by Eva Darling & Linda’s ex brother in law, Thomas Keough (both Scientologists).

JRandy:
“When he nearly lost everything because of the allegations and the drug abuse, he was determined to set things straight,” recalled one of his associates. “He may have been in love with her, I don’t know. I think he was actually in love with what she represented: conformity and kids. Everyone who knew him felt it was too soon after rehab for him to be jumping into a marriage, especially since he’d never been married and had no idea what he was doing.”

Michael was deeply disappointed in the wedding ceremony, he later admitted. He’s a romantic. He’d always hoped for a grand, opulent and loving affair, like Jermaine’s wedding had been so many years earlier. It was significant to him that he one day have a ceremony to join him with someone he loved and to express his affection for that person before family and friends. Sure, he had romanticized the notion over the years, but so what? People have done so throughout the ages, and have seen those dreams become reality in their lives. Michael never imagined that he would run off and marry a person in secret, as if ashamed of his relationship.

That night, Elizabeth was with friends at the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel. When a reporter asked her if she would confirm rumors of Michael’s marriage, she snapped at him, “I am not in the business of clarifying rumors. Now, be gone!”
Even though Lisa was in love with Michael, she – not he – was the one with certain goals she hoped to achieve as a result of the marriage; chief among them was the realization of her musical career. “Michael told Lisa that he would attempt to get her a record deal at Sony,” says her friend, Monica Pastelle. “Yes, she loved him. She didn’t marry him because of the offer to help her career, but it was on the table as something he was going to work on for her.”

 

June 5, 1994
Michael takes Lisa Marie & her children Benjamin & Dannielle to Disneyworld in Florida .

Jun 20, 1994
We previously reported that Michael Jackson visited Palm Beach to look at potential East Coast retreats, including the since-sold blue-roofed Martino estate on North Ocean. Michael supposedly was the guest of Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, but since then a couple of sources claim he actually stayed several weeks at a home near those of Mollie Wilmot and the Kennedys. A Palm Beach resident claims to have seen Michael walking the beach at 7 am.

July 11, 1994
Media learn about Michael & Lisa Marie ’s wedding.

JRandy:
Meanwhile, the two took a duplex apartment suite in Trump Tower in New York (directly below Donald Trump’s), while Michael began work on a new album.
One of his bodyguards remembered, “it was chaos with the media and fans suspecting the newlyweds were in the suite, but not able to confirm it.”

August 1, 1994
Lisa Marie confirms that she is indeed married to Michael.
“My married name is Mrs. Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson. My marriage to Michael Jackson took place in a private ceremony outside the United States [11] weeks ago. It was not formally announced until now for several reasons; foremost being that we are both very private people living in the glare of the public media. We both wanted a private marriage ceremony without the distraction of a media circus. I am very much in love with Michael, I dedicate my life to being his wife. I understand and support him. We both look forward to raising a family and living happy, healthy lives together. We hope friends and fans will understand and respect our privacy.”

August 5, 1994
Michael & Lisa Marie arrive in Budapest (Hungary) and make their first public appearance together causing a media frenzy.

August 6, 1994
Michael & Lisa Marie visit sick children at St Jude hospital and meet Bela Farkas, a little boy in need of a transplant. Moved by his story they decide to finance the operation that will save his life.

August 9, 1994
Michael & Lisa Marie fly back to New York where Michael resumes the recording of his new album.

Robmix on Gearsltuz:
I was there when Lisa Marie was around. They acted like two kids in love. Held hands all the time, and she hung out at the studio for quite a while. I never questioned their love for each other.

Brett Strong on how they met, ET – Aug 10, 1994
Brett Strong: They just fell head over heels in love and that love just grew and grew to the point where they just married.

ET’s John Tesh: Internationally renowed, Brett Livingstone Strong will now be known as Hollywoods hottest match maker. This Australian creator has made millions with his paintings and his sculpting. He has two National monuments now displayed in Washington, DC. and is currently working on his third, a tribute to our space program. And now he is the guy who bought two musical super powers to the altar.

Brett Strong: Obviously Lisa was not looking at Michael for his fame or looking at him for his success. She was purely looking at him because he is a true gentleman.

ET’s John Tesh: Strong is a long time friend of both. He originally talked the pop music icon to meet with Lisa to hear her sing.

Brett Strong: I told Michael what if I came up with and brought to you the best person on this planet who has not been exposed, and is beautiful. Michael’s reponse was “who the heck are you talking about. Who is it?.” I said Lisa Marie Presley. Michael’s response was “No! She can sing?” She is fantastic. Michael said “well Brett obviously I am interested. Can you get me a tape or something?”

ET’s John Tesh: Well Lisa did not want to send a tape. She wanted to perform in person. So Brett arranged a meeting at his house in November 1992 when this picture was taken of the three of them and Bretts’ son, Stason.

Brett Strong: In fact that was the day they first came together and where Lisa performed a couple of song’s for Michael. It was a fabulous experience, for I think both of them. And Michael really felt really honored. He was like “Wow! I am Lucky. You know.” And Lisa felt the same.

ET’s John Tesh: And it turns out that Michael loved more than just her singing. They ran off and got married. Brett said that Lisa did not even
tell her mother. And Brett said you can forget all the rumors you hear about why the couple married. This is the real deal.

Brett Strong: It is a purely a very simple story. It’s a love affair that grew from a friendship.

ET’s John Tesh: And here is the rest of the scoop. Brett Livingstone Strong tells ET thattrue love blossomed last year (Feb 93) when Priscilla Presley threw a birthday party. And Southern California Magic Mountain Amusement Park was rented for the ocassion. Michael sent Lisa a present. The picture of that famous night they met (Nov 92). And the rest is history.

August 20, 1994
Michael & Lisa Marie are on the cover of magazines around the world (Jet, Hello, Paris Match ect…) with exclusive pictures taken by photographer Dick Zimmerman.

Dick Zimmerman, Québécois magazine translation, Aug 1994
“A kind of magic emerges from this young couple. I really did not know what awaited me when I arrived, but what I saw made me think of the scene which two in love act as if they were alone in the world, in spite of the crowd which surrounds them. That only comes when two people are deeply enthusiastic about one another.

1994, photo by Dick Zimmerman

Like everyone, I had heard rumours which surrounded their marriage several weeks ago. But it was necessary that I see them with my own eyes to work out the depth and sincerity of their love. This love, neither could hide from me. It will be enough for you to realise it by looking at my photographs, especially those which I took of Lisa. There are attitudes which cannot be faked.

In fact, I did not even need to guide Michael and Lisa. I did not need, for example, to ask them to intertwine. They spontaneously did it and most naturally. I had to only say to them to place themselves at such or such a place, and the rest came naturally. They spoke to each other in a very soft tone, the tone of two people very much in love with one another.”

“It’s like when you see two people in the street who’re in love and act like there is no one else around them. I saw it with my own eyes.
If you look at the photographs, you’ll notice that there is something going on, especially with Lisa. I didn’t have to tell them to put their arms around each other, they just did it.

Having spent an entire day with them, I saw some magical things. They talked to each other very quietly like lovers would. For the first shot, I told them to stand close. They immediately put their arms around each other and Lisa cuddled right up to Michael. I told Lisa to sit in a chair and Michael to kneel beside her. He put his arm around her and pulled her head to his chest, while Lisa tenderly took hold of his hand.

Between shots, they were whispering and giggling to each other. They were so happy it was hard to keep their attention on the camera. They were so much into each other.
They are so happy with the photos. Michael put Xs over the ones he liked, and the pages of photos were covered with Xs. But the loving ones with Lisa, showing their happiness, were his favourites.”

JET, 22 August, 1994
September 2-6, 1994
Michael & Lisa Marie visit France (Nice, Cannes , Paris & Disneyland) and spend time with Prince Al Waleed who wants to launch a production company with Michael.

 

September 5th at Versailles: 

September 12, 1994
Michael & Lisa Marie open the MTV Video Music Awards Ceremony with a kiss.

JRandy:
“Afterward, they had a huge fight about it,” said Monica Pastelle. “Her whole thing was, “I told you no, and you just disregarded it.” But Michael thought it was great, a showstopper. He was all about the show, you know? What could they do that would cause headlines? That’s where his head was at. “But people will be talking about that kiss for decades,” he said. “Don’t you see? They’re gonna run that clip over and over.” Lisa was pissed off for days. “Don’t you fucking even come near me,” she told him.”

Michael, London Mirror, September 12, 1994
After his telephone proposal, once they were in LA together. “Lisa and I were in the living room [at Neverland] having a glass of wine,” he said. “We had just finished watching All About Eve, starring the Bette Davis. We both love that movie. I just walked over to her, reached into my pocket and pulled out this huge diamond ring. “So what do you think?” I asked her. “You want?” She screamed out, “Yes, yes yes.” I never even officially popped the question. We never actually discussed marriage. It just sort of happened.”
“This is not a hoax,” Michael insists, “I swear it’s not.”
“I want people to know that I wouldn’t marry someone just for publicity. That’s just not me. I love her. This is serious. I hope people believe it. If not, then, hey, too bad for them.”
Was Lisa pregnant, as had been reported? “No, that’s not true at all,” he sighs, “Lisa Marie is not pregnant.” But he admits: “Yes, we want to have children. Yes, we will have children.” Then he laughs: “Don’t rush me.”
There had been recent reports that Lisa had plastic surgery in an LA hospital, her breasts enlarged and liposuction on her hips, at Michael’s behest. It was preposterous, but I decided to ask him about it, anyway. “Ridiculous,” he told me. “Just try telling Lisa Marie what to do. It would never happen. I would not be able to convince her to do anything, let alone plastic surgery. The truth,” he said, “is that she had scar tissue removed from an appendectomy, and dermabrasion on her face to get rid of old acne scars.”
Did he and Lisa have a prenuptial agreement? “No way,” he said. “What kind of marriage would that be?”
“I love Lisa Marie. Why won’t people believe that? Why won’t the public let me be happy?”
Michael claims it was their similar tastes that drew them together. They love watching slapstick, screwball comedy films, like the Three Stooges and old movies, particularly ones starring Jackson’s great pal Liz Taylor.
They also share a love of animals.
“One of the things that most attracted me to Lisa is that she gets along well with the many animals in my zoo,” he says.
“Elizabeth Taylor for instance, is scared to death of all the animals, especially the horses. But Lisa Marie just loves them. It’s hard not to fall in love with a person who can relate to animals.”
Michael is astonished at the public scorn the announcement attracted. When he was told one of the reasons was because Lisa Marie’s press release only discussed her feelings for him, he was perplexed.
“Why should I have to explain how I feel about my wife in a press release?” he asked.
“The press release was Lisa Marie’s idea. She wanted to set the record straight. If it was up to me, I would have just said, “Let people think what they want.”
A final rumor Michael dismisses was the report that he and Lisa Marie will sing a duet on October 8 at a Tribute to Elvis Presley in Memphis. “But he adds, we’ll be together forever so there’s plenty of time to sing together.”

Ebony, October, 1994
Michael & Lisa Marie are on the cover of Ebony with an exclusive interview of Michael by Robert Johnson.

Jimmy Jam on working with Michael, October – December, 1994
Jam can talk about how cuddly Jackson is with his wife, Lisa Marie Presley. Jam can talk about how Jackson wore essentially the same outfit to the studio every time – whether in New York, L.A. or Edina: an oversized cotton shirt over a T-shirt (usually white), black jeans, penny loafers (sometimes white socks) and makeup.
“Michael is the nicest guy in the world. I remember reading a quote from Lisa Marie when they got married. And someone asked what she liked most about him, and she said, `He’s the nicest guy in the world.’ I laughed when I read that. But he really is. It sounds corny, but he’s definitely the nicest guy I’ve ever met.”

October 8, 1994
Michael & Lisa attend an Elvis Presley tribute gala in Memphis with Janet & Rene and Lisa’s mother Priscillia Presley

“Black & White” – Nov. 5th 1994
BLACK&WHITE : Michael is married now. What do you think about his marriage with Lisa Marie Presley?
Bruce Swedien : This marriage is not for commercial purposes. This marriage is pretty serious thing and I’m glad to see him happy finally. Lisa Marie is great, they feel very good together. They are inseparable. She comes very often to the studio.
It feels good to me, seeing that, because of that relationship Michael has changed.

December 24/25, 1994
Michael makes a break in the recording sessions to enjoy the holidays with Lisa Marie & her children at Neverland.

January 20-24, 1995

Michael & Lisa Marie welcome King Nana Amon Ndoufou in Los Angeles .

February 6, 1995

Michael & Lisa Marie visit lawyer Johnnie Cochran at his new office in L.A.

April-May 95

MJ practices choreography with Travis Payne at LM residence

May 25, 1995

Michael, Lisa Marie & her daughter Danielle go to the Six Flags Amusement Park in Los Angeles .

Excerpt from Child Bride, June, 1995

As Lisa and Michael prepared to do their much-publicized, hugely anticipated and widely watched July 14, 1995 interview with Diane Sawyer on Primetime Live answering questions about their bizarre marriage, Lisa was seen coming out of the president’s office at the Celebrity Centre in the Hollywood Hills the afternoon before, where she was being advised on how to handle the questions and answers. Another one of Lisa’s childhood friends, Dana Rosenfeld, watched the interview, along with most of America, and was stunned. “My only take on that is that for so long she was hidden from everybody and nobody knew anything, and what better way to just catapult yourself to the center of the media’s attention than to marry someone like that?”

June 14, 1995

Michael & Lisa Marie give an interview to ABC’s Primetime Live with Diane Sawyer. Lisa Marie later says that after this interview the marriage began to fall apart.

JRandy:

“It was right after the Diane Sawyer show that things started going bad,” says Monica Pastelle. “Lisa started to wonder if she’d made a mistake in choosing him as a life partner. The great sex continued, though. It was the thing that made it difficult for her to see straight where he was concerned. Whatever was going on in the privacy of their bedroom was enough to keep her hooked into the relationship. However, things were getting strained. When they weren’t in bed making love, they were fighting.”

Said James Cruse, who knew her well at the time: “It was embarrassing for her to constantly defend his actions, always explaining that he was not a pedophile, he was misunderstood, he was a child at heart, blah, blah, blah… the same stuff you always hear about the guy. He didn’t seem to care that it was hard on her. He just wanted to live his life the way he had always lived it. “What I do is none of your business,” he told her. That really set her off. “How can you say that? Of course it’s my business,” she told him. “You’re my husband. You’re my business”.

July 12, 1995

Michael and Lisa Marie shoot the video for You Are Not Alone and they also appear on the cover of Jet magazine. The director says that Michael was too shy to ask her to participate himself, but considering there was tension between them at the time, it might have had less to do with him being shy and more to do with the relationship being strained.

Director of YANA, Wayne Isham, videostatic.com interview:

“Having done videos for so long, nothing strikes me as strange anymore. Everything has a unique twist. But, the one that ranks at the top is probably Michael Jackson “You Are Not Alone.” We had planned out all these elements for the video and then Michael had this idea where he wanted to use this Greek, classical-styled, artistic imagery. And, he wanted to appear in it naked with his wife, Lisa Marie Presley. Like they were Greek gods. It had nothing to do with the video we were doing, but I said, “OK, that’s cool. We can shoot it.” We set it up and as we’re ready to shoot, he leads me into the trailer and says,

“Have you asked her?” He wanted me to ask her to appear in the video. He was too shy. So I asked. And we did it.”

It took 5 days to complete shooting of the clip “You Are Not Alone”, plus another 5 days to edit and create the special effects.

According to director Wayne Isham, the very last scene of Michael and Lisa Marie was filmed without the couple’s knowledge.

Debbie Rowe’s friend Tonya Watts says that Debbie was also on the set, from her myspace,

So She took me to Gower Studio where he was shooting a music video. He works at night so we went around 11pm. I was so nervous (only he and Dolly would make me nervous).. We arrived and his body guards led us to a trailer. She went in and left me outside of the trailer for a while. Finally, she opened the door and called me in.. She said “Michael this is Tonya Tonya this is Michael”. he shook my hand.. and I said the dumbest shit ever… ” “should I faint now or later” giggle giggle.. He then said “listen to her laugh.”. so I sat in the corner in a chair while she, Michael and the makeup artist all carry on while he is getting his makeup done… not many people can say they have done that.. he is very private about his makeup affairs ha ha

Off to the set we went… I was so shy and trailed behind.. He stopped and waited on me.. Such a gentleman.. We did go in his personal trailer and there was candy all over the place..just as I would have imagined . We soon had to leave cuz Lisa Marie was on her way. She was in that video and well, it was time to go.

July 31-August 6, 1995

After an argument with Lisa Marie, Michael flies to Disneyland Paris and doesn’t see or speak to Lisa Marie for 6 weeks.

She tells Rolling Stone in 2003: “He got upset and he would just disappear.”

JRandy:

Michael was still pushing Lisa to get pregnant. She, however, was reluctant – sensing that the marriage was doomed.

Their physical intimacy had cooled. ‘I think we have to have sex in order for me to get pregnant,’ she told him, ‘and I ain’t doin’ it.’

But Michael didn’t mind. He had a plan. One day over breakfast, he told Lisa: ‘My friend Debbie said she will have my baby. If you won’t do it, then she will.’

Lisa was stunned. Life with Jackson had been weird from the start, but this was too much. She called his bluff. ‘That’s fine with me,’ she said in a calm, controlled voice. ‘Tell her to go ahead and do it.’

August 15, 1995

You Are Not Alone is released as a single and directly reaches number 1 on the Billboard.

Michael Jackson Simulchat (during their separation)- August 17, 1995

Bruce Ross: How has your marriage to Lisa Marie changed your life?

Michael: I think I find it more fun to appreciate what family really means. The fact that even though there were ten of us Jacksons…we were always doing things at different times, and I’m really learning the real meaning of love. Giving 100% of yourself all the time. Putting up with one another. So far it has been pretty joyous.

Sam: A story in the UK press claims a quickie divorce on the way. Is it true?

Michael: Never believe tabloid garbage. Don’t waste your time, don’t waste your money. No, it’s not true. If you hear it from my lips, then you can believe it. But no, it’s not true.

SiBiS: In Oprah’s interview you said that you wanted to raise a family one day. Do you plan to do so?

Michael: Yes. That’s my dream for a long time. My own children, I want to adopt them. Not only my own, but children from all over the world. I think we should be less territorial about it.

Kurt: How did you like working with your sister Janet on the “Scream” video and your beautiful wife Lisa Marie on “You Are Not Alone”?  P.S: Best of luck to you two, don’t listen to all the B.S going around!

Michael: That’s a great question. The press creates all of these negative stories so people will buy their magazines or read their columns. You mustn’t read everything you read. Most of it is not true, most of it’s garbage. And I want everyone to be aware of what the tabloid media is like. I have had so much fun working with my sister and working on the set everyday. I haven’t seen her in quite some time and she is busy and I am as well and it’s like a reunion. I’m closest to Janet of all the family members. We were very emotional on the set. We laughed, we cried, we had a lot of fun. Everyday she’d come to me sad because of something in the press. I told her she’d just have to become resilient. I had a lot of fun with Lisa Marie on the set. But when the director said, “Action”, she became very shy. I was giving her a hard time too!

The Mirror, August 19, 1995

If it’s Saturday, it must be time to air another [LISA MARIE] Presley-Michael Jackson rumor. This time rumor central has it that Lisa Marie plans to divorce.

Buffalo News, Aug 20, 1995

Spokesmen have denied a British report, attributed to an unnamed aide of Lisa Marie Presley, that the daughter of the king of rock ‘n’ roll wanted a divorce.

Seen, Heard, Said, August 28, 1995

Mommy rumors are surfacing again for Lisa Marie. This info comes during the couple’s heated denial that Lisa Marie wants a divorce and in fact was seen walking on a beach with ex-hubby Danny Keough. A source tells The Star that Danny is saying, “It’s not a matter of if she’ll get divorced – it’s just a matter of when.”

September 7, 1995

Michael attends the MTV Video Music Awards in New York City . He opens the ceremony with a 20 minutes long medley (including Dangerous & You Are Not Alone) and accepts an award with Janet for Scream.

Lisa Marie tells Rolling Stone in 2003; She says that after about a month without any contact, his people started calling, saying that it was important that she show up at the MTV Video Music Awards. She agreed to show up if she didn’t have to go down the red carpet; they consented, and then led her down it anyway. “I was pissed. I just felt like I was being used at that point.” She was then told that he was going to sing to her and that he had a surprise for her. “I remember my whole look was: ‘Don’t you come anywhere fucking near me — we haven’t spoken in a month.’ And he got it. He didn’t come over. I talked to him later and he said, ‘I saw the look on your face, and I knew that if I walked up to you, I didn’t know what you were going to do me.’ “

JRandy, September, 1995

In September 1995 rumors surfaced that Michael and Lisa Marie were ending their marriage, causing an international firestorm of headlines. I managed to get Michael on the telephone for an interview for the Australian magazine, Women’s Day, to check it out. “Let me just say this,” he told me, impatiently. “No. No. No. No. These stories are damn lies made up by people who hope they’ll get lucky with one of them and hit it big.”

I asked if he wanted to further respond to reports that Lisa did not know about his vacation in Paris with the Cascio brothers. “Like I wouldn’t have told her? “ Michael asked. “Like she wouldn’t read about it anyway, or see us photographed by every newspaper photographer in the world? Neither one of us could have kept a secret from the other, even if we wanted to,” he said. “We’re so happy,” he added of his marriage. “We do it our way. I don’t know if it’s conventional. My parents have been married for forty years. Is their marriage conventional? Were Lisa’s parents in a conventional marriage? I don’t think so. I love being married, knowing that Lisa’s there,” he continued. “She’s strong. She’s smart. She’s on my side, listens to me, understands me, understands my world.”

Visit Memphis Zoo, September 24 1995

She is seen walking ahead of him and the relationship appears tense.

Janet Jackson, USA Today, Oct 11, 1995

She also defends his (Michael’s) marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, “a true sister to the 10th power. Lisa’s wonderful. She’s beautiful inside and out. They’re good for each other.” She was disgusted when her brother’s sex life was probed in June’s Prime Time Live interview. “For Diane Sawyer to ask all the other questions and then have someone else ask that – why?” says Jackson, rolling her eyes. “I’m sick of this whole stupid thing about, ‘Do they have sex?’ Somebody asked me that and I said, “No, they just sit there, look at each other and masturbate.’ I mean it’s STUPID. I wish people would shut the fuck up and leave him alone.”

December 6, 1995

Michael collapses while rehearsing the concert and he is rushed to the Beth Israel Medical Center . He is suffering from gastro-enteritis, dehydration and electrolyte imbalances.

JRandy:

As soon as he was checked into the hospital, Michael’s press people telephoned Lisa in Los Angeles and, with frantic explanations, begged her to fly to her husband’s side. “Hell, no was her response. “Screw him. I’m not going. Why should I?”

December 10, 1995

Lisa Marie finally visits him and she asks for a divorce.

uesday, December 12th 1995

Lisa Marie Presley has been living at the Four Seasons while she visits her ailing husband. But she didn’t check into Jackson’s swank suite she got her own, reports a spy.

December 18, 1995

Michael goes resting at Disneyland Paris taking with him the Cascio kids (Frank, Eddie, Dominic Jr, Aldo & Marie Nicole)

January 18, 1996

Lisa Marie officially files for divorce. Michael’s spokesman states that they remain friends.

JRandy:

Michael spent a couple of weeks lamenting what had occurred with Lisa. “Lisa said that the part of him that is critical of himself – the beaten child part of him – really kicked in after the divorce was finalized,” said Monica Pastelle. “He wanted to call and talk to his best friend, her. He didn’t want to let go. She needed space, though. She really needed time away from him. She felt that he had really screwed with her mind, and she got sick and her body started breaking down after the divorce. She poured her life into him. Now, she had to reclaim it for herself. He had a hard time with that.”

Child Bride:

Lisa’s ill-founded marriage to Michael came tumbling down within six months of the Diane Sawyer interview, when Lisa filed for divorce in January 1996. The inside word was that, before the marriage, Michael had promised Lisa a recording contract with his company and had later reneged. “That’s what he might have been promising her,” commented Myrna, who disapproved of the marriage from the outset, “but that might not have been his intention.” Lisa, she revealed, was devastated by the experience. “He’s very much top of the pile in his world, and that’s probably one reason why Lisa filed for divorce,” said Brett. “And the things she asked for from Michael, he wasn’t willing to do.”

Michael and Karen Faye have dinner, January 26th 1996,

Pop superstar Michael Jackson came out of hiding last night, enjoying a sushi dinner and the company of a mystery blond in midtown (Karen Faye, his make up artist) just a week after his impending divorce was made public.

“I am having a great time,” Jackson said, his first public words since Lisa Marie Presley told him to beat it last week, ending a 19-month marriage that has often been described as a giant publicity stunt.

It was hard to tell whether the carefully choreographed public appearance at the Motown Cafe was meant for his personal enjoyment or to quell questions over his sexuality that have dogged him for the last several years.

No one could figure out who Jackson’s friend for the evening was but judging from their body language the pair seemed very well-acquainted, right down to their matching mirrored sunglasses, which never came off during the hour they spent together at the W. 57th St. spot.

The woman, who appeared to be in her late 20s or early 30s, did not answer when asked her name. Restaurant personnel said they did not know who she was.

The self-described King of Pop looked healthy, relaxed and true to character heavily made up when he entered the theme restaurant just after 10 p.m.

Rubbing shoulders with fans, tourists and executives from CBS Records, he was dressed casually in jeans and a red buttondown shirt. A light red lipstick and base makeup covered his face.

As the couple and an entourage of bodyguards entered through the cafe’s revolving doors, the crowd hushed, then stared and cheered while Jackson and his group mounted the stairs to an upstairs dining area.

The area where they ate was just behind a metal statue of the singer as a boy.”That’s 10,” Jackson said when asked how old he was in the statue.

A crush of people clamored for a glimpse of the singer, who signed a few autographs. He spent several minutes holding 1-year-old Juelle Dixson, whose father, Julius, is a performer with the restaurant singing group, the Motown Moments.

“I am a big fan of his,” Dixson said. “It feels good when you are really a fan of someone’s. He is someone I really like.”

Jackson was equally impressed with Juelle. “She’s so beautiful,” he said.

His waitress brought out Evian water, orange juice and a specially prepared plate of sushi California roll, salmon and shrimp. Eating with their hands, the couple dunked the sushi in sauce, clinked their glasses and giggled.

After a few moments, Jackson called over the waitress, Andrea Whitaker.”He said, ‘Can I request ‘I’ll be There,’?” Whitaker said. “I said, ‘You can request anything you want!’ “

January 27, 1995

The day after this PR date, Lisa Marie contacts Karen Faye and calls her a bitch.

LMP, March, Vogue Magazine, 1996

Is Lisa happy with her face? “God, no. NO! How could I like what I see in the mirror?” she asks. “I wouldn’t hang out with a human who woke up in the morning and looked in the mirror and said, ‘I look beautiful.’” But she’s content. She’s not about to go run off to a cosmetic surgeon like some people we could mention. And if she does, it will be for routine repair, not rebirth as a different person. “I’m pretty vain. And I don’t like things falling without my permission. If something does, then I’ll get it fixed.”

The face in the mirror is one thing; the naked body showed with Michael Jackson’s pasty flesh in the “You Are Not Alone” video is another. I wanted to know how she saw her public image. “That’s a hard one.” You bet it is — only partly through her own fault (she presumably chose to make those videos) but mostly because of the fatal star that made her Elvis’s only child. In person, she is reserved and private — “terribly shy,” she says — but she’s been a honey pot in the press since the day she was born and lives fenced in by minder staff, and security that beat anything I’ve ever seen.

[…]

She came into Vogue’s offices to try on the clothes for the photo shoot. She was as nervous as a two-year-old colt at the thought — “of talking” — even about clothes. She doesn’t talk to the press. She’s done only one other press interview in her life, though her tabloid clippings could fill a room. The clippings will be doubling and redoubling as the divorce — about which she will not say one word — goes through.

Feb 20, 1996

Pop star Michael Jackson will produce the debut album of his estranged wife, Lisa Marie Presley, “Day & Date” reported yesterday.

On the program, celebrity writer J. Randy Taraborrelli said, “Michael Jackson will be producing Lisa Marie Presley’s first album in the next few months.And chances are there will be a duet between Jackson and Presley.

Taraborrelli, who wrote the unauthorized biography “Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness,” added: “Lisa Marie will make her record industry debut in the next six months.”

May, 1996

Debbie Rowe gets pregnant again with Michael’s baby.

LMP, Ladies Home Journal, August, 1996

They both married in their early twenties, were divorced single mothers by their late twenties and will be linked forever by royal marriages to messed-up pop-music messiahs.

Small wonder that Priscilla Presley and daughter Lisa Marie are attached by a fiercely protective, almost mystical bond that has influenced their tumultuous journeys to Graceland and Neverland and back. It is a tie, Presley says, that grew stronger through Lisa Marie’s rumor-ridden twenty-month union with Michael Jackson, which ended just before her twenty-eighth birthday early this year.

“I’m her mom,” Presley says. “I’m there for her. She knows that. It’s a very delicate situation, for her and for everybody involved.”

[…]

She is animated and expansive talking about comfortable topics like family values and child rearing, but ask about Lisa Marie’s life since her Caribbean elopement with Jackson, in May 1994, and a curtain drops behind Presley’s blue eyes. She won’t even mention what’s-his-name–and certainly won’t comment on all those tabloid reports. Among them: that she pressured Lisa Marie to split from Jackson, hoping for a reconciliation with Keough, whom she calls a “terrific father”; or that Jackson continued to spend time with young boys while married.

“I don’t want to get into these questions” is all she will say. “I have a very difficult time with divorce. I would never betray her. But there’s one great thing about Lisa Marie: She understands surviving.”

[…]

Still, there’s no controlling what Navarone picks up at school about his famous half-sister’s much-publicized marriage to Jackson. “He’ll come home with crazy things, and I’ll have to change the opinion right away,” she says. “That’s the hardest thing–to keep on top of the information he hears.”

[…]

Lisa Marie is, says Presley, far more complex than the sassy, posturing princess America saw interviewed with Jackson by Diane Sawyer for PrimeTime Live. “I know someone very different. I hope the public doesn’t judge her for that.”

[…]

Interestingly, just as Lisa Marie’s divorced parents spent amicable time together, she and Keough “want to be together and want their children to see them together,” says Presley. “She gets along wonderfully with Danny.” Asked how the marriage to Jackson affected that connection, Presley instinctively pulls back: “I don’t want to even–that’s another story.”

Rome News Tribune, November 9th 1996

The woman who is carrying Michael Jackson’s baby has told friends that the King of Pop’s marriage to Lisa Marie Presley broke up because she wouldn’t have his child.

3T, TV Hits, 1997:

Q: So what about Uncle Michael and Lisa Marie getting a divorce?

TJ: They’ve had so much pressure on them, especially from the press – it must be hard to stay together.

Taryll: The press only report the bad things. They don’t know how much love there is between them.

Taj: Nobody ever said about Michael and Lisa Marie, “oh, that’s nice, I hope it lasts”. Everybody wanted to kill the relationship before it had a chance.

3T, Smash Hits, 1997:

Taj: We only got to meet her twice, but she was great. We all got along fine. It was sad when it ended, because we know how special she was to our uncle. Right from the beginning, everyone wanted to see it fail. A lot of it was media pressure and rumors – maybe she just didn’t want to be under the spotlight.

July 11, 1997

While a pregnant Debbie returns to the states, Michael goes to London where he is joined by his ex wife LIsa Marie.

July 12 + 15 + 17, 1997

Michael performs 3 concerts at the Wembley Stadium in London . (Katherine & Lisa Marie attend the shows)

Jul 17, 1997

They split last year, but Michael Jackson and former wife Lisa Marie Presley were hand-in-hand Tuesday night returning to his hotel after his sell-out London concert. Presley stood at the edge of the stage through the show at Wembley stadium. Afterward, the two returned to the Carlton Towers hotel and Jackson waved to fans.

July 26, 1997

Michael Jackson is a hunk in the bunk, according to his wife Debbie Rowe. Speaking for the first time about their bizarre marriage, Debbie said Michael Jackson lives to make love round the clock. Debbie, 38, said she doesn’t give a hoot that he and first wife Lisa Marie Presley spent time together in London recently.

October 11, 1997

Michael is made honorary member of a tribe in Phoheng. His parents Joe & Katherine & his ex wife Lisa Marie attend the event.

 

Enquirer, October 21, 1997

MICHAEL JACKSON has reportedly begged LISA MARIE PRESLEY to give marriage a second try. The king of pop whisked his ex-wife away for a hush-hush second honeymoon in exotic South Africa. And during the romantic getaway with Lisa Marie’s daughter DANIELLE, Jackson popped the question to her. A source told American tabloid THE STAR, “He’s really excited about the possibility of starting over with Lisa Marie. While they were in Africa they both realized how much they had missed each other.” Michael’s kid sister, a great friend of Lisa Marie, played matchmaker to bring the couple together. And despite Jackson being married, his wife DEBBIE ROWE was unaware of their secret tryst at the Palace Hotel, in Johannesburg. Jackson and Lisa Marie stunned the world when they married in the Dominican Republic. But 20 months later the fairy tale union ended in divorce. Even though Jackson has fathered a baby with his new wife, Rowe, he has always remained close to ELVIS PRESLEY’s little girl.

November 25, 1997

Debbie Rowe Jackson gives an interview to KNBC in Neverland where she denies tabloid rumors of an affair between Michael & Lisa Marie and announces that she is pregnant with a baby girl that she and Michael want to name Paris Michael Katherine.

Michael, Life Magazine, December 1997

 

But there is one subject to which Michael repeatedly returns during four hours of conversation and picture-taking: Lisa Marie Presley.

Michael’s voice quickens, even quavers, when he speaks of Lisa Marie. How she enjoys the baby. How they are still close after an amicable divorce. How they frolicked overseas the month before. He seems to pine for her. “Lisa Marie was just with me in Africa,” Michael says. “We (went to) IMAX theaters, simulated-ride safaris, dinner. We went parasailing. It was wonderful.”

Even Debbie has acknowledged that Michael is still smitten. “He cares about her very much, but it didn’t work out and he was devastated,” she has said. “He loved her very much. Still does.”

When asked if Lisa Marie has ever expressed second thoughts about not having been the one to bear his son, Michael insists, “She regrets it. She said so.” Would she still consider having a kid with him? “She’d like to, yes,” he says putting a mischievous finger to his lips. “Shh.”

[…]

And there, on one nightstand, rests a framed photograph of Lisa Marie. Not a recent snapshot. Or even a formal portrait. But a picture apparently cut out of a magazine, placed as a child would place it, cockeyed, in a frame meant to hold a photo twice its size. A picture of Elvis and is little girl, then only five years old.” This is the age,” Michael says, “when I first met Lisa Marie. When her father first came to my concerts. I’ve known her ever since.”

National Enquirer, 28 January, 1998

LISA MARIE PRESLEY is back in the clutches of ex-husband MICHAEL JACKSON, sparking fears that he’ll grab control of the multi-million dollar Presley empire. The couple have been spotted spending hours together chatting business and pleasure despite Jackson having a wife and child, with another on the way, back at his Neverland Ranch in California. And family friends of Presley say mom PRISCILLA is freaking out that the singer is only interested in her daughter’s fortune, left to her by ELVIS PRESLEY. A friend told American tabloid NATIONAL EXAMINER, “She’s starstruck over Michael. And he’s convinced her she can trust him over anyone else. She told me ‘I can trust Michael. Michael has all the money he could ever use. He has no reason to try to get part of mine.” Presley is due to inherit the $300 million Elvis estate when she turns 30 on February 1st. A friend said, “Priscilla is scared to death that Michael will take over and fire her. This is the guy who shrewdly bought up the rights to all the Beatles songs. So now PAUL McCARTNEY would have to pay Michael if he wants to record one of his own songs. Priscilla’s petrified Michael is up to the same game with Lisa.”

February 7, 1998

Michael has dinner with Lisa Marie at the Ivy Restaurant in L.A.

 

The National Enquirer, Feb 10, 1998

IN OTHER JACKSON NEWS – HE TAKES LISA-MARIE OUT ON THE TOWN IN LA:

King of Pop MICHAEL JACKSON has set tongues wagging again after being spotted out on the town with ex-wife LISA MARIE PRESLEY. The THRILLER star left pregnant wife DEBBIE ROWE at home while he wined and dined Presley at the exclusive IVY restaurant in Beverly Hills, California last Saturday night. Jackson emerged from the eaterie hand in hand with the 30-year- old daughter of ELVIS, and the couple sped off in a waiting car. Rumors are now rife that Presley’s bizarre romance with the megastar is back on again. The news will not be welcomed by her first husband DANNY KEOUGH, who only recently was reported to have reunited with Presley. Keough banned Presley from letting the singer near their two children after seeing pictures of five year-old son BEN sitting on Jackson’s lap. Now with the latest sightings, Jacko is well and truly in Keough’s bad books.

USA TODAY 3 June, 1998

Who needs Michael Jackson? Ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley has signed a debut deal with Java Records, a joint venture with Capitol, and goes into the studio in January.

Java is owned by Glen Ballard, who produced Alanis Morrissette’s smash album Jagged Little Pill. People’s Mitchell Fink scooped this Wednesday on CNN’s Showbiz Today, and it was confirmed to me by a Presley spokesman.

Ballard will co-write and produce with Elvis’ only child. He said in a statement Wednesday: ”Lisa and I met through a mutual friend, and I was struck by her intelligence, her talent and her passion for music. There has been a genuine creative connection between us, and it is clear to me that Lisa will make an artistic statement that is unique and compelling.”

Jackson tried to get a record deal for Presley but nothing came of it. Ballard co-wrote Jackson’s Man in the Mirror.

Rebbie Jackson, OK! May, 1998:

One family member she has yet to get the chance to accept is Michael’s wife Debbie Rowe, the mother of his heir Prince Michael Jr. “I have never met Debbie, so I don’t know what she’s like,” she explains. But one ‘outsider’ Rebbie is happy to befriend is Michael’s first wife, Lisa Marie Presley. She says: “Her six year old son Benjamin is so in love with my two daughters – he flirts with them all the time when Lisa’s visiting my home!”

November 10-20, 1998

Michael goes to Souh Africa with his kids as well as Lisa Marie & her kids and together thay attend a Janet concert.

November 25, 1998

Michael spends Thanksgiving at Hayvenhurst with the Jackson family + Lisa Marie & her kids

Mid December, 1998

Michael goes to the Hit Factory in New York where he meets Teddy Riley, Janet & Lisa Marie.

LMP, Newsday, 28 January, 1999

Lisa Marie then wanted me to tell her my sources for various items about her ex-husband Michael Jackson and his current wife, Debbie Rowe! I declined, of course. And she declined to say much else either – merely that she is busy in the recording studio making an album. “Things are going well; my kids are good!”

LMP, USA Today, 10 February, 1999

Presley princess marks 31 at L.A. bash from USA Today

Lisa Marie Presley danced till dawn to celebrate her 31st birthday with 300 guests at L.A.’s Argyle Hotel on Sunset Boulevard.

Elvis’s little girl, in a sexy red Dolce & Gabbana dress, partied Friday (her actual birth date was Feb. 1) with Janet Jackson, who stuck close, Seal, Kirstie Alley, Marisa Tomei, Andy Dick, Jimmy Jam, David Foster and Glenn Ballard, who’s working with Presley in the studio on her forthcoming record. Juliette Lewis picked up a mike to sing Happy Birthday. Guests enjoyed backrubs and a photo booth. No sign of Presley exes Danny Keough and that Michael guy. But an unidentified beau supposedly hosted the event.

23 March, 1999

Elton John Hosts Seventh Annual Oscar Night Party to Benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation Sponsored by InStyle Magazine Jim Carrey greeted Mariah Carey and both joined the booth of Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, and Lisa Marie Presley.

Michael, The Mirror, 13 April 1999

“I start dancing and Prince is all in the way trying to dance with me. “Jackson never plays his own music to his children – “I’m saving that for a surprise when they are a bit older,”‘ he smiles. He would love them to go into the entertainment world but he’s aware of the dangers.

He says: “It’s going to be hard for them. When Lisa-Marie wants to sing, people always compare her to her father, which is so tough.”

National Enquirer, June 30, 1999

Lisa Marie Begs Michael: Please Take Me Back!

Lisa Marie Presley is desperately pleading with ex-husband Michael Jackson to take her back.

In a heartfelt phone call to her ex-mother-in-law, Katherine Jackson, “Lisa Marie made it very clear she wants Michael again,” said an insider.

Lisa Marie told Katherine, “Our divorce was a mistake — a bad mistake,” the insider revealed to The ENQUIRER.

“I know how to love Michael. I want him to know I’m here for him.”

Elvis’ only child married pop star Michael in 1994, and divorced nearly two years later.

Lisa Marie’s attempt to rekindle Michael’s interest comes when her ex-husband’s marriage to Debbie Rowe is on the rocks.

The couple had a bitter fight when Michael announced the couple’s 2-year-old boy Prince was dying — and backed out of a planned concert in Italy. But Debbie stated publicly in a televised interview that reports the boy was in danger were false.

“Lisa Marie wanted Michael to know that, unlike Debbie, she would NEVER publicly dispute anything he said,” noted the insider.

“Don’t forget, when Lisa Marie and Michael were married, she went on television with him and defended everything he has ever done.”

Debbie’s considering ending the bizarre, 21 2-year union with the pop star, and Michael’s terrified he’ll lose his beloved son Prince, and the couple’s 1-year-old daughter Paris.

But not if Lisa Marie can help it. She told Katherine Jackson, “I’ll treat his two adorable kids as my own,” said the insider.

“I want to be back with Michael.”

Michael, TV Guide Interview, 29 November, 1999

What about the plastic surgery?

All of Hollywood has plastic surgery! I don’t know why they point me out. The press exagerated it. It’s just to my nose. They want it to be everything. Just the nose isn’t enough. Elvis had his nose done Lisa Marie told me. They don’t talk about that. They singled me out. It’s not fair.

OK, well, now that you bring up Lisa Marie, I read that she said she regrets not having had your son and that she may still want to have a child with you. Is that true?

I remember that’s how she felt at the time [laughs]. No matter what I say, I’m in trouble with this question. The next issue of TV Guide will probably say “Well, Lisa said she doesn’t ever want to see him again!”

Are you two friends now?

Lisa’s sweet. I like her very much and we are friends. And who knows what tomorrow brings? I have no idea how she feels today. I’ll just say that. She comes to my house and sees the children, and we talk on the phone, that sort of thing.

Do you think you will marry again?

That would be nice.

What would make the third time the charm?

It just has to hit me. You have to see that person and go, “This is it. This is the one.”

Did you feel that way with both of your marriages?

Yeah. Of course.

Enquirer, Dec.16, 1999

MICHAEL JACKSON destroyed his friendship with ex-wife LISA MARIE PRESLEY when he claimed in a recent interview that Lisa told him ELVIS had a nose job.

Lisa is so furious with Michael for breaking her confidence that she’s stopped taking his calls and is vowing never to speak to him again!

Michael didn’t realize his casual remark about her father would upset Lisa and quickly sent her 100 of her favorite peach-colored long-stem roses as a peace offering.

But she refused to accept the delivery!

Michael is so distraught over the thought of losing access to Lisa that he’s leaning on ELIZABETH TAYLOR to intervene on his behalf.

April 6, 2001

Elvis’ little girl Lisa Marie Presley has ditched her rocker fiance John Oszajca and is telling pals she wants to remarry ex-hubby Michael Jackson-and have his baby, reveal insiders.

“She’s even called Michael and begged him to take her back,” confides a Presley family insider.

But the source close to the Presleys says Lisa Marie’s feelings for Jackson are what really destroyed the relationship with Oszajca.

“She kept on having love pangs for Michael,” reveals the insider. “Her feelings for him kept intruding on her relationship with John. He would get furious and tell her to forget Michael. But she wouldn’t.”

Finally, fed up Oszajca told her to choose between him and Jackson-and she chose The Gloved One, according to the source.

Lisa Marie and Jackson, 42, divorced in 1996, following a two-year marriage. Since then he’s had a son, Prince, 4, and daughter, Paris, 3, with estranged wife Debbie Rowe, who filed for divorce in 1999.

Now Lisa Marie-who has children, Danielle, 11 and Benjamin, 8, from her first marriage to musician Danny Keough-is telling freinds that she wants to swap vows with Jackson again, sources report.

“She says her biological clock is ticking and she’d like to have his baby,” reveals the Presley family insider. And her dream might just come true.

Lisa Marie and Michael Jackson have remained close friends and continue to see each other, sources say. “She’s made no secret that the happiest time in her life was when they were married. Over the years, she’s also kept in touch with his family, includinghis mom, Katherine.”

Lisa Marie’s spokesman, Paul Bloch, confirmed her breakup with Oszajca and added that while she is still friends with Jackson and loves him, she does not want to remarry him.

But insiders say Elvis’ only child is determined to woo Jackson back. “Lisa Marie’s predicting to friends that she and Michael will be walking down the aisle by year’s end,” says the source.

“And if you know Lisa Marie, she never lets anything get in her way.”

Conversations With Rabbi Schmuley, 2000/1

MJ: Lisa.. we’re still friendly, but she’s running around. She just changed her number and we don’t have the new one yet.

[…]

SB: How do your feel about men who are not faithful to their wives?

MJ: I dont’t think it’s good but I understand it. I know that is a strange answer.

SB: You find women fall in love with you all the time as the megastar so you don’t judge men who are unfaithful, because sometimes you’ll ascribe it to women who make themselves available?

MJ: I don’t judge them because women can do some things that make guys very unhappy. I have seen it with my brothers. I have seen my brothers crying, in tears and pulling grass out of the lawn with frustrations because of their wives.

SB: Do you think a lot of their wives are interested in their success than them?

MJ: Absolutely. They were after their money. That’s why I said to myself that I would never be married. I held out the longest. I stayed at home until I was twenty-seven, twenty-eight.

SB: So part of the attraction to LMP that she had her own money and her own fame and you didn’t have to become anxious that she was interested in you for the wrong reasons?

MJ: Absolutely she didn’t take a penny [when we got divorce] she didn’t want anything. She makes about a million dollars a year from Elvis memorabilia and selling all that stuff and she has her own thing. She is not her to take, you know.

SB: So that means there was almost like one girl in the whole world that you could marry because even a rich woman would want your name. You needed someone with money and a name. You were down to a Presley or a McCartney or something like that.

MJ: I know Lisa was great. She was a sweet person. But it is hard to tie me down. I can’t stay in one place one time so that’s why I don’t know if I can really be completely married all the time.

SB: Did you want to be a father to her kids?

MJ: Yes.

SB: Do you still stay in touch with the children?

MJ: Yes and with her.

SB: But marriage is too confining?

MJ: Yes. I don’t know whether I’m disciplined enough because I am such a rolling stone. I have such a life when I am always on the move and women don’t like that. They want you to be settled in one place all the time but I have to move. I have been in the same city as where my house is and I’ll check into a hotel just to feel like I’m going somewhere. My house is right there. I guess I’m just moving all the time, moving.

SB: Do you get lonely? Or is there so much going on in your life that it doesn’t really happen?

MJ: Like lonely for a wife? For like a mate? Like that?

SB: Yeah

MJ: I’ve been through two bad divorces. I just got out of the second one. Even when married to those women that I was married to, I’d go to bed hurting. I was hurting.

I was crying last night as I went to sleep and I didn’t sleep good last night and I cry Shmuley, because I feel this… and I’m not trying. I’m telling you the honest truth and if you don’t believe me you can ask Frank. Frank knew how I was hurting. I just was feeling all the pain of the children who suffer and I was hurting so much. That’s why I was trying to reach any child I knew who had pain from [Michael mention a little girl who was battling cancer and whose family he met at our home] to Gavin [Michael’s later accuser]. I was trying to like calling, dialing and I woke up the first thing, the first person I called was the little girl’s house and she had gone already. It hurts me. But I think that’s where my real love comes from, Shmuley. If I can help in that way I’m fine and I don’t need the other [romantic love].

You know if I meet some girl somewhere and I think she’s beautiful, which I see a lot of them, that’s great. I mean, I’ll go on a date or something. Nothing wrong with that. Jennifer Lopez looked awfully good the other day, she did. I was shocked ‘cause I never thought….She looked good.

SB: But have you given up on women understanding you? You tend to think that children will understand you a lot better?

MJ: I’m not easy to live with in that way for a wife. I not easy and I know I’m not easy. Because I give all my time to someone else. I give it to children. I give it to somebody sick somewhere, to the music. And women want to be the center. And I remember LMP would always say to me,” I’m not a piece of furniture.” “I’m not a piece of furniture.” “You just can’t…” and I say, “I don’t want you to be a piece of furniture,” and you know, there’d be some sick little girls calling on the phone and she’d get mad and hang up on them. And, you know, I feel that’s my mission, Shmuley. I have to do it.

SB: What if you found a woman you was soft, who was incredibly soft?

MJ: Like a Mother Teresa or a Lady Diana or…That would be great. I would be perfect.

SB: Would it be better than having to do it on your own?

MJ: Absolutely, and Lisa was great with going to the hospitals with me, and she was so sweet about that. They would tie the babies to the bed of chain children down. We’d go unchain…we’d go free all these babies. I hated that and she discovered a lot of that injustice with me. Countries like Romania and Prague, Czech and all that, Russia.

[…]

Lisa Marie was good about at least visiting. So she had no problem going and doing some of the compassionate things of giving these children love and making them feel special.

MJ: She had no problem doing that but her and I had several big arguments ‘ cause she’s very territorial with her children. Her children were [her major concern]….and I said “No, all children are our concern,” and she never liked that coming from me. She was very angry about that. Plus she a had fight with me one time when two little boys in London killed this other kid and I was going to visit them cause the Queen gave them adult sentencing of life. These were like 11 and 10 year old boys and I was going to the prison and visiting them. She said, “You idiot. You’re just rewarding them for what they did.” I said, “How dare you say that.” I bet if you trace their lives you can find they didn’t have parents around, they didn’t have any love, nobody there to hold them look in their eyes and say “I love you,.” They deserve that even if they are going to get life, I just want to say I love you and hold them. “She said, “Well you’re wrong.” I said “No, you’re wrong.” The information came out they came from broken families, were never watched as little kids, attended to. Their pacifier was those Chucky movies with the stabbings and the killings. And that’s how they became conditioned to that.

SB: Did she admit then you had a good point?

MJ: Nope, she thinks I’m rewarding bad kids.

SB: Did she want you to be a father to her kids?

MJ: Well that was once asked of her. She was asked that question on TV and she said, “No, they have a father. Their father is Keogh,” that other guy. But I was really good to her children. Every day I’d bring them home something and they’d be waiting by the window for me and hug me. I love them. I miss them so much.

SB: Did she get used to living at Neverland or was it too isolated?

MJ: Lisa didn’t live at Neverland. We visited Neverland the way…I lived at her house in the city and every once in a while we visited Neverland. It would be like our fun weekend.

SB: And her children liked it?

MJ: Are you kidding me? They were like in heaven.

SB: And you were happy to show it to them?

MJ: Mmm hmm

SB: Since you idolize the family was it very hard for you when you had to go through that divorce then?

MJ: Which one?

SB: With Lisa.

MJ: Was it hard for me?

SB: Did you see the writing on the wall? That you were different? Meaning my parents divorced when I was eight. So I really, really romanticized marriage.

MJ: Really?

SB: But I’m a believer in marriage. So when your relationship with Lisa started to fall apart was it very hard? Your idealism about the family, everything you believed in building the intimate family you always wanted, especially because you knew….

MJ: I wanted children and she didn’t.

SB: She felt she had her kids.

MJ: Yeah, and she promised me before we married, that would be the first thing we’d do was have children. So I was broken-hearted and I walked around al the time holding these little baby dolls and I’d be crying, that’s how badly I wanted them. So I was determined to have children. It disappointed me that she wouldn’t keep her promise to me, you know? After we got divorced she would hang out with my mother all the time. I have all these letters saying, ” I’ll give you nine children. I’ll do whatever you want.” And of course the press don’t know all these stories and she just tried for months and months and I just became too hard-hearted at that point. I closed my mind on the whole situation.

SB: So she thought maybe you could get back together?

MJ: Uh huh

SB: But children were a major, major issue?

MJ: Of course.

SB: She had the kids and that was it.

MJ: She had hers and I wanted us to feel like we all were one big family and have more. Just my dream is to have 9 or 10 children, that’s what I want.

SB: You’re still very young. Do you think that will happen?

MJ: Yeah

SB: But then it means getting married again.

MJ: Yeah

SB: Are you happy to do that?

MJ: Uh huh… or adopt.

SB: Is it possible Michael you’re attracting the wrong kind of girl because of your celebrity?

MJ: It’s hard. That’s why it’s hard, it’s hard for me. It is hard. It’s not easy for celebrities to be married.

SB:Do you think that you could only really marry celebrities so that they don’t need you as much?

MJ: That helps, in my opinion. And they understand what you go through. They’ve been there.

SB: They help you for the right reasons, then?

MJ: Yeah, they’re not after you know, what you’ve made [ the money] or you know? [singing] “That’s what you are….” [ He won a Grammy for that.] Right? Right.

[..]

Michael always spoke with affection and respect for Lisa Marie Presley, with the one exception when he told me that she has wanted him to get involved with Scientology and got pushy. He had to tell her that he had no interest in becoming a Scientologist. Michael was dismissive of Scientology and spoke of how the practices of Scientologists that he had been exposed to were not sufficiently spiritual or substantive for him”

Chicago Sun-Times, January 7, 2002

While friends are predicting wedding bells will soon ring for Nicolas Cage and his love, Lisa Marie Presley, those same pals are also saying Cage is giving Presley an ultimatum.

Reportedly, the actor is VERY tired of his girlfriend’s continuing obsession with her ex-hubby, Michael Jackson. While a close Cage associate laughs off some press reports claiming Cage has demanded Presley stop ALL contact with Jackson (“Or else!”), he does stress the Oscar winner has asked his intended to “cool it,” regarding Jackson.

Though divorced, the daughter of “The King” speaks to the “King of Pop” quite frequently and also is a regular phone chatter with Jackson’s mother, to whom she’s remained close. Apparently, Cage is somewhat jealous of her relationship with Jackson and bored with her constantly bringing him up in conversation.

LMP, The Commercial Appeal, 16 January, 2003

Schilling says Lisa Marie, 34, shied away from a career in music for years, one reason being the perception of living up to her father’s legendary legacy. Nevertheless, Lisa Marie had several offers on the table in the early ’90s, including a production deal at one label that Schilling says he snagged without using her name “to make sure that what I was hearing was good.”

“We were closing a deal at Epic Records and we had a firm offer from RCA,” continues Schilling. “And she called me and said, ‘I can’t sign the deal.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ I thought she was kidding. She said, ‘Jerry, I just can’t do it, and you’ll know why.’

“And a couple of days later she married Michael Jackson.”

Lisa Marie married Jackson in 1994. They divorced less than two years later in 1996.

 

P.S.

LMP Myspace, Friday, June 26, 2009

He Knew.

Years ago Michael and I were having a deep conversation about life in general.

I can’t recall the exact subject matter but he may have been questioning me about the circumstances of my Fathers Death.

At some point he paused, he stared at me very intensely and he stated with an almost calm certainty, “I am afraid that I am going to end up like him, the way he did.”

I promptly tried to deter him from the idea, at which point he just shrugged his shoulders and nodded almost matter of fact as if to let me know, he knew what he knew and that was kind of that.

14 years later I am sitting here watching on the news an ambulance leaves the driveway of his home, the big gates, the crowds outside the gates, the coverage, the crowds outside the hospital, the Cause of death and what may have led up to it and the memory of this conversation hit me, as did the unstoppable tears.

A predicted ending by him, by loved ones and by me, but what I didn’t predict was how much it was going to hurt when it finally happened.

The person I failed to help is being transferred right now to the LA County Coroners office for his Autopsy.

All of my indifference and detachment that I worked so hard to achieve over the years has just gone into the bowels of hell and right now I am gutted.

I am going to say now what I have never said before because I want the truth out there for once.

Our relationship was not “a sham” as is being reported in the press. It was an unusual relationship yes, where two unusual people who did not live or know a “Normal life” found a connection, perhaps with some suspect timing on his part. Nonetheless, I do believe he loved me as much as he could love anyone and I loved him very much.

I wanted to “save him” I wanted to save him from the inevitable which is what has just happened.

His family and his loved ones also wanted to save him from this as well but didn’t know how and this was 14 years ago. We all worried that this would be the outcome then.

At that time, In trying to save him, I almost lost myself.

He was an incredibly dynamic force and power that was not to be underestimated.

When he used it for something good, It was the best and when he used it for something bad, It was really, REALLY bad.

Mediocrity was not a concept that would even for a second enter Michael Jackson’s being or actions.

I became very ill and emotionally/ spiritually exhausted in my quest to save him from certain self-destructive behavior and from the awful vampires and leeches he would always manage to magnetize around him.

I was in over my head while trying.

I had my children to care for, I had to make a decision.

The hardest decision I have ever had to make, which was to walk away and let his fate have him, even though I desperately loved him and tried to stop or reverse it somehow.

After the Divorce, I spent a few years obsessing about him and what I could have done different, in regret.

Then I spent some angry years at the whole situation.

At some point, I truly became Indifferent, until now.

As I sit here overwhelmed with sadness, reflection and confusion at what was my biggest failure to date, watching on the news almost play by play The exact Scenario I saw happen on August 16th, 1977 happening again right now with Michael (A sight I never wanted to see again) just as he predicted, I am truly, truly gutted.

Any ill experience or words I have felt towards him in the past has just died inside of me along with him.

He was an amazing person and I am lucky to have gotten as close to him as I did and to have had the many experiences and years that we had together.

I desperately hope that he can be relieved from his pain, pressure and turmoil now.

He deserves to be free from all of that and I hope he is in a better place or will be.

I also hope that anyone else who feels they have failed to help him can be set free because he hopefully finally is.

The World is in shock but somehow he knew exactly how his fate would be played out some day more than anyone else knew, and he was right.

I really needed to say this right now, thanks for listening.

~LMP

Hello! October, 2009

But this past year has brought sorrow, too. Lisa Marie’s second marriage, to superstar Michael Jackson in 1994, may have been brief, but there was no doubting the depth of feeling they had for each other and she was devastated by his sudden death earlier this year.

Here, in a candid interview, the musician, who is currently working on a new album – her first in five years – talks about the tremendous support she had from her husband during that distressing time, how becoming a mum again has enriched her life and why she and her family would like to make the UK their permanent home…

[…]

You were in Europe when your former husband Michael Jackson died. How did it affect you?

There have been so many layers of grief in Michael’s death, so many different aspects and angles that have at times overwhelmed me, which I am still dealing with, to be honest.

I am incredibly fortunate that I have an amazing husband who has been unbelievably understanding and supportive throughout this process. He has cried with me, he has left me alone to cry if that’s what I needed. He has let me talk his ears off, he has listened while I talk others’ ears off, without annoyance or complaints. I have never met a more selfless and supportive person. That, along with the fact that I have been writing [songs] a lot and throughout, has helped.

London Evening Standard, 14th October, 2009

Michael Jackson’s ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley was close to tears last night when one of his records was played while she was on the dance floor.

Elvis’s 41-year-old daughter, who was married to the Bad singer in 1994 for less than two years, was at Mahiki in Mayfair with her mum Priscilla for the Paul Smith store launch party.

Our spy told us: “Lisa Marie was having a great time with her friends. She was dancing away until Thriller was played.

“Without warning, she walked off the dance floor and went back to her seat and looked really upset.”