Lisa Marie Presley’s life has always been lived in the glare of public fascination, her every move scrutinized as the only child of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll.

Yet, it was her marriage to another music icon, Michael Jackson, that propelled her into an even more bewildering spotlight, one that combined the legacies, controversies, and vulnerabilities of two of the world’s most famous families.

In a rare and deeply candid interview, Lisa Marie reflects on her relationship with Michael Jackson, revealing the complexities, emotional highs and lows, and the lasting impact that union had on her life.

Looking back, Lisa Marie admits her initial impression of Michael Jackson was far from positive.

She recalls, “First of all, I heard he wanted to meet me when I was 18.

I didn’t want to because I thought he was a freak.

Immediately, I didn’t want to meet him.”

Despite her reluctance, she eventually agreed, only to find herself surprised by his effort to disarm her assumptions.

“He sat me down and said, ‘I know you think this, I know you think that,’ and he was completely normal.

He started cursing, being a normal person, and I was like, wow.”

Within minutes, her perception shifted from skepticism to intrigue, and a connection quickly formed between the two.

Lisa Marie describes an almost instant rapport: “We started talking and immediately related to one another.

It just kind of went from there because we were born and raised in different situations, different upbringings.

I think there was a connection on that front—superstar, superstar, just Fishbowl life, oddities, different circumstances, but still very vulnerable.”

Lisa Marie, who had already been married and become a mother by 21, admits she was still emotionally inexperienced and vulnerable.

“He’s not stupid.

He didn’t get where he was because he’s stupid.

It’s unfortunate that not a lot of people know who he really is.

When he wants to lock into you, intrigue you, or capture you, he can do it.

When Michael wants to pull you into his life somehow, he’s very good at it.”

She describes how Michael’s attention made her feel special, needed, and protective, a dynamic that quickly drew her in.

“I kind of fell right into that.

Didn’t necessarily think it was going to go romantic, but it did.

I fell into this whole ‘you poor, sweet, misunderstood thing, I’m going to save you.

’ I fell in love with him.

Yes, I fell in love at the time, and he fell in love with me, and it was very real.”

The marriage proposal itself was as extravagant as one might expect from Michael Jackson.

Lisa Marie recalls, “We were in the library in front of the fire and he pulled this giant 10-carat diamond out of his pocket, put it on my finger.

I think he got on his knees as well and proposed.”

She explains that marrying Michael felt like the right thing to do at the time.

“In my mind, I’m thinking, I’ll marry somebody who’s even bigger or as big as I am, then I can actually feel like a wife, I can be next to the man and feel more comfortable that way.

I wasn’t seeking publicity myself.

I was kind of looking to feel like I can support somebody else that I admired.

I wanted somebody comparable.

Along the way, I decided that was the solution.”

Despite her rationale, those around Lisa Marie were skeptical, especially given the timing of the relationship in the midst of Michael’s highly publicized scandals.

“My mom was just like, ‘Look at the timing of this and don’t be stupid.

’ She married the biggest star of her time, you were going to marry the biggest music star of your time.

I knew she really didn’t want me to do that and I understand why.”

Lisa Marie admits that her mother’s disapproval may have fueled her determination.

“It was just her reaction to my even dating him—typical mother-daughter, like, ‘Oh, you don’t like him? Good, he’s going to be my husband.’”

The public’s reaction was even more intense, with the media and fans questioning the authenticity of their relationship.

Lisa Marie was not seeking attention, but found herself thrust into an overwhelming spotlight.

“I loved being next to him and taking care of him.

I was on such a high doing that.

I’m not lying when I say that he had something so intoxicating about him.

When he was on and ready to share with you, be himself and allow you to come in, I don’t know if I’ve ever been that intoxicated by anything.”

Much public speculation surrounded the nature of their marriage.

Lisa Marie addresses the rumors head-on.

“It was a real marriage, like between husband and wife.

It was a consummated marriage.

There was sexual attraction.

I told you everything I said was the truth.”

She adds, “I’m not attracted to mediocrity or normalcy or things like that.

I think certain things are—I’m weird, I don’t know, I’m whacked.

So these were romantic nights.

I don’t remember them very well, but yes, it was normal.

I wasn’t going to get married if it wasn’t that.

I even remember thinking, how is that going to happen? And then he quickly disillusioned me of that idea.”

For Lisa Marie, the relationship was at its peak when they felt united against the world.

“One of the very highest points of my life was when things were going really well and he and I were united together.

He and I had an understanding about some of the people and things that could go on around him.

We were a unit.”

But the pressures of Michael’s fame, his entourage, and the constant media attention took a toll on her.

“I didn’t like the attention.

It was like a [expletive] storm.

I couldn’t go anywhere.

He needed to do his thing.

I would be there uncomfortably, like the MTV thing.

It’s not in my nature to do that sort of thing.”

Their infamous joint interview with Diane Sawyer was, for Lisa Marie, “very strange.”

She admits, “I was nervous.

Did I regret doing that? I did after.

It was a little disturbing, startling.”

Looking back, she says she was already thinking about the future, especially about the potential for custody battles and the need to make sure everything was safe and secure for her children.

“I wanted to make sure that he and I were really, really united because we were going to be up against so much.

I do feel that there was an agenda there too though, because I think he wanted children and he wanted her [Debbie Rowe] to have children.

He would come tell me, ‘If you’re not going to do it, Debbie said she’ll do it.

’ So we would get into arguments.”

Lisa Marie is candid about the rumors of Michael’s drug use.

“I never saw it, but I suspect it.

I didn’t really suspect and catch on.

There was just an occasion where he had collapsed and was in the hospital—this was during the HBO thing.

Every day there was a different report.

I couldn’t tell what was happening.

Dehydration, low blood pressure, exhaustion, a virus.

I couldn’t really get a straight answer.

I got from various indications, I believed that was going on then.”

As for the end of their marriage, Lisa Marie describes a rapid unraveling.

“It just kind of went really sour, really fast.

It started to dwindle out of control and went to hell in a handbasket.

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

She describes the people around Michael as “vampires, spiders, sucking his blood.”

Ultimately, Lisa Marie filed for divorce.

“It was over the phone.

I’d had enough.

There was a lot of stuff going on.

It got really ugly at the end.

I left him to put my foot in the ground and say, ‘Come with me, don’t do this.

’ And it was a stupid move because he didn’t.”

The aftermath was devastating for Lisa Marie.

“I got out and then four days later I started having chronic panic attacks and my body just freaked out on me.

I needed to be mopped up off the floor after that one.

I was quiet for about a year and I fell apart physically for a while.

I went through this whole series of just body falling apart—stress, the gallbladder just went to zero function, I had to get it taken out, I had mono and Epstein-Barr, fever that wouldn’t go away, really ill.

It took me a good two years to come out of that, physically, mentally.

I really had to remove myself out of that.

It took me a long time to detach myself.”

Even after their divorce, their relationship continued in a complicated cycle of reconnection and separation.

“We spent four more years after we divorced getting back together and breaking up, and talking about getting back together and breaking up.

At some point, I had to push it away because I wasn’t moving forward with myself.”

Asked if she believed Michael truly loved her, Lisa Marie is reflective and honest.

“It’s hard for me to answer that question.

Do you think that he loved you as much as he could? Yes, as much as he was capable of loving somebody.

For whatever reason in my life, I had to go through that.

I got through it.

In retrospect, he honestly tried so hard and went through so much with me.

I know now, looking back, he’s never done that with any other female or anyone.

I really admire that he really gave it a good shot.

I didn’t appreciate it then, and I wish I did.”

Lisa Marie acknowledges the stigma that her marriage to Michael brought to her own life.

“It sort of stigmatized me, without my knowing about it.

I regret that.”
She expresses fatigue at the constant association with Michael Jackson, saying, “I get sick of being asked about that, I’m sure.

Everything is about that.

You were married to Michael Jackson.

That’s like the biggest, you know, and it turned me into a freak.”

As for the allegations and controversies that surrounded Michael Jackson, Lisa Marie is unequivocal.

“I never saw any inappropriate behavior.

If I had seen anything, believe me, his ass would have been hanging from a tree.

I never saw anything like that.

Now, I don’t know what’s happening lately with him, I really don’t.

I hope he clears it up.”

She reveals one of the last conversations she had with Michael, in 2005, as he faced renewed legal troubles.

“It was a very long conversation.

Please keep your head together, please.

If this goes to trial, please hold it together.

He said, ‘What are you talking about? What do you mean?’ He said, ‘You mean drugs?’ I said yes.

In those interviews, I saw him intoxicated.

I didn’t see the Michael that I knew.

He was high as a kite from what I saw and from what I knew.

Really, he was either too speedy or he was sedated, it wasn’t the Michael that I knew.

He asked if I still loved him and we went into a whole thing about that, and I told him I was indifferent, and he didn’t like that word and he cried.”

Michael confided in Lisa Marie that he feared for his life, believing someone wanted to kill him for his music catalog and estate.

Lisa Marie says she and the Jackson family spent years trying to save Michael from self-destructive behavior, which left her emotionally and spiritually exhausted.

She wrote, “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