The Real Reason Lisa Marie Presley Filed For Divorce From Michael Jackson
When Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley married on May 26th, 1994, friends observed that they were a great fit. After all, Jackson always questioned any possible love interest’s motives, that they would only use him because of his fame and fortune. But clearly, that wasn’t the case with the heir to Elvis’s fortune.
Although the two were very different in personality, they bonded and understood each other on a deeper level due to their shared experience. Both grew up in the spotlight, both lived life under intense media scrutiny, and both were mistrustful of outsiders having spent most of their lives feeling exploited. Via their relationship, they were able to develop a connection as well as an unparalleled trust in someone else, in a world that often seemed treacherous and hostile towards them. However, this connection wasn’t enough for a lasting marriage, with the couple divorcing less than two years later. So, what did ultimately cause the relationship to breakdown?
For the newly wedded couple, they divided their time between Jackson’s 2,700-acre Neverland Ranch in Santa Ynez, California and Presley’s 4,000 square foot estate, 100 miles away in the Hidden Hills. Although they spent a lot of time together, Presley did not move into Jackson’s home upon getting married. According to biographer, J. Randy Taraborrelli, this was due to her wanting to remain independent, as well as Presley’s children (Danielle and Benjamin) finding their new stepfather ‘a little strange’.
It was reported, that they weren’t intimate physically during their marriage. However, Lisa Marie has repeatedly stated that they were, telling her best friend ‘he is hot stuff in bed’. That he liked her to wear jewellery in the bedroom and that they would engage in role playing games. But, her friend expressed disappointment when Lisa Marie would never tell her which role he would play. Having been bought up in showbiz, Presley was used to what others might call strange and was okay with whatever ‘weird’ stuff her new husband was doing with her in the bedroom. When asked if Jackson wore makeup to bed, she confirmed and stated, ‘I don’t have any problem as long as he is happy.’
Looking back, Presley has said, ‘One of the very highest points of my life was when things were going really well and he and I were united together and I could take care of him’.
During 1994, when Michael Jackson was not promoting or on tour, the couple were allowed privacy and were as solid as any healthy marriage. It was when the two were required to appear in public together, when Jackson felt the pressure to repair his public image in order to save his superstar musical career, that tensions between the two rose.
The pair first appeared together on television at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards, in what has been described as a ‘memorable moment’. Holding hands, the couple walked onto the stage in New York. In front of a television audience of 250 million, Jackson announced, ‘Just think, nobody thought this would last’, before embracing Presley in a kiss. Afterwards, Presley became angered at her husband, feeling he had used her. The pop singer reasoned that the liplock, which was dubbed ‘The Kiss of the Century’, would be talked about for decades, with people playing the clip over and over. Jackson’s attempts at calming his wife proved futile; and she told the singer not to ‘even come near me’ and remained angry for several days.
The intensifying tabloid press also caused issues, as in the same week, Jackson and Presley had another argument. News reports had been suggesting that if Elvis were alive, he would not approve of his daughter’s marriage. Annoyed, Jackson reportedly suggested that the couple could find out by holding a séance to contact the deceased ‘King of Rock ’n’ Roll’. During the session they would ask his opinion of the union. Presley felt the idea was tasteless and, upon Jackson’s continuing to push the idea, warned, ‘If you stay on this particular road, they’re gonna need a medium to contact you from the Great Beyond!’. The two supposedly never spoke of the incident again.
Jackson and Presley appeared on the television show Primetime in June 1995. In Jackson’s first interview since 1993 and Presley’s first ever, Diane Sawyer quizzed the pair on their private life with a series of “insensitive” questions. Presley boasted that she and Jackson had regular sex, following Sawyer’s questioning their sex life. When asked if the marriage was a sham, Presley asserted that such rumors were ‘crap’; she said she would never marry someone for any other reason than being in love with him, and concluded that if the public thought differently, they could ‘eat it’.
The following day, Presley reflected that the interview had been a disaster; she had hoped the couple would be perceived as being serious, yet Jackson fooled around during the show, at one point holding two fingers behind his wife’s head to make bunny ears. Presley’s friend Monica Pastelle revealed that it was at this point that Presley began to wonder whether she had made a mistake in choosing Jackson as a long-term partner.
Initially, Presley felt that Jackson was vulnerable, a child himself and needed to be taken care of, a role she indulged in. But once married, when Michael gained emotional stability, he became who he was again. The strong minded, stubborn and ambitious person that got him to where he was. He didn’t like to be told what to do and would say to Lisa ‘what I do is none of your business.’ He made it clear that she had to be okay with whatever he does and not question him but support him if she loved him. But Lisa was not okay with that, as she was concerned and also proud. She actually telephoned his mother Katherine and told her ‘But I also want to save your son. I love him. He is not staying out of trouble’, with Katherine replying ‘I only know that you can’t tell my son what to do. That’s just how he is.’
One issue the couple had was that Jackson was desperate to have children right away, but Presley was unsure and wanted to wait. Imagining the future and what would happen if the marriage ended, Presley saw an impending ‘custody battle nightmare’. In addition, she felt her husband was too emotionally immature to be a parent, having watched his daily interactions with other people; she believed he was the one in need of parenting. Jackson explained to his wife over breakfast one morning that she did not have to be the biological mother if she so desired. He explained, ‘My friend Debbie (Rowe) said she will get pregnant and have my baby. If you won’t do it, then she will. How about that?’ Unshaken and infuriated with his persistent threats, Presley replied that it was fine by her.
When asked on tape if Lisa Marie ever asked him to adopt her kids and give them financial support Jackson said ‘No she didn’t. I never asked her because she already said in an interview that they had their father. That other guy. But I also wanted to be their father (officially). She didn’t want it.’
Michael Jackson said himself that ‘Lisa was good doing hospitals with me. But she got real angry when I wanted to visit two children who killed this other kid in prison because I believed they didn’t have a childhood. But Lisa didn’t understand it. She thought I was rewarding bad kids.’ Lisa Marie admired Jackson’s commitment to charity and giving back. But felt he also overdid it, wanting to give love to two murdering kids and heal them, it was an illusion, a fantasy of his that he could do that.
A further problem for the pair was Jackson’s insistence on being around children. Though she believed he was innocent — ‘I wouldn’t have let him near my kids if I thought that’ — she felt her husband was only opening himself up to more rumor and innuendo following the 1993 allegations. One evening at Neverland, Presley confronted the pop star on the issue and was met with a defiant Jackson, resulting in another argument. Upon being called selfish, Jackson pointed to his humanitarian endeavors. Presley countered that his philanthropy was irrelevant and that he was leaving himself vulnerable, that opportunists would blackmail him and threaten him in exchange for money.
Following several more troubled months, Jackson ended up in the hospital; after he collapsed while rehearsing for a concert in New York. It was around this time Presley suspected Jackson had relapsed and his drug addiction was getting out of hand again. ‘There was just an occasion, an incident where he had collapsed, and he was in the hospital. It was very confusing what was wrong. Every day there was a different report. And I couldn’t really get a straight answer about what was happening with him and I think we were all a little bit in the dark. At that point, I think I got from various indications that that was going on then. There were times that I would pick him up from certain doctors’ offices and he would not be coherent’ Presley recounted.
Presley arrived at the hospital to meet her ill husband, and yet another heated debate ensued. The argument ended after Jackson warned her that she was making his heart rate go up and asked her to leave. She obliged and was escorted out by a doctor and Jackson’s mother Katherine along the way. Presley subsequently returned to Los Angeles and after being discharged Jackson went to Disneyland Paris to recover. They both had suffered from drug dependency and Michael was beginning to use medication to numb traumas relating to the allegations. Lisa was in recovery at the time and feared for her own sobriety. She stated in an interview that she did everything in her power to support and help him get into recovery, but he was unable to beat his many demons at that time in his life.
Presley filed for divorce in early 1996, citing ‘irreconcilable differences’ and noting their date of separation as December 10, 1995, shortly after the incident in the hospital. The divorce was finalized on August 20, 1996. As part of the settlement, Presley received 10% of the royalties from Jackson’s HIStory album, which contained the song ‘You Are Not Alone’, whose music video featured a semi-nude Presley and Jackson frolicking against an ethereal backdrop.
The divorce proved difficult for Jackson, who spent several weeks lamenting his loss. Presley was the first person with whom he had connected on such a high level. She had supported him as he faced allegations and became dependent on pain medication. It was also the first time that the pop singer had had a deeper chemistry with another. Presley was able to make him open up and express himself through their physically intimate moments together.
As Presley did not sign a confidentiality agreement, a further clause stated that Presley could write a tell-all book about her time with Jackson. At the time, ‘The Princess of Rock ’n’ Roll’ revealed that she had no wish to write a memoir; the singer still had respect for Jackson and did not want to speak critically of him. Presley also wanted to preserve her own dignity and keep their life together private.
However, in 2019 it was reported that Lisa Marie Presley was inking a blockbuster book deal to reveal ‘shocking’ details about her ex Michael Jackson, which was sold to Gallery Books for between 3 to 4 million dollars.
Tune in next week for part three where we investigate the aftermath of Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley’s marriage. As after their divorce was finalised, the two rekindled their relationship and attempted to make it work again for several years.