Priscilla Presley isn't holding back in her new memoir, Softly as I Leave You: Life After Elvis. She freely dishes about her former son-in-law, the late Michael Jackson. He and Priscilla and Elvis's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, were married from 1994 to 1996. Their union raised eyebrows and questions.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Clearly Priscilla was not thrilled about them tying the knot. Per People, the pair wed just three weeks after Lisa Marie, who died in 2023, divorced her first husband, Danny Keough. Per People via her book, Priscilla says she was not asked to attend the couple's nuptials in the Dominican Republic. "My lack of enthusiasm was obvious," she noted.
Priscilla suspected the "Billie Jean" singer of ulterior motives in taking Lisa Marie as his bride. She claims that the marriage came "at a time when he desperately needed good publicity." Jackson at the time was fending off widely-publicized "allegations of child sexual abuse."
Priscilla Believes She Knows What Drew Lisa Marie to Jackson
The talk about the allegations Jackson faced ramped up. Priscilla thinks that Lisa Marie felt bad for him. Per People, she wrote in her book, "She felt sorry for him, and naturally, she believed in his innocence." She dourly calls Jackson "a manipulative man."
Public speculation about Jackson and his new wife intensified. It reached a feverish pitch, especially after the Jacksons' appearance at the MTV VMAs in 1994. They kissed and embraced onstage in front of the audience. Priscilla writes that she was "angry." Jackson and Priscilla's encounters were mostly brief, perfunctory, and not really friendly, she wrote.
She Asked About Lisa Marie's Physical Relationship With Jackson
Per the outlet, Priscilla questioned Lisa Marie about whether she had a physical relationship with Jackson. Lisa Marie said yes, but that she seldom saw her husband. The marriage finally crumbled in 1996 when Lisa Marie filed for divorce. With the Presley-Jackson union spluttering to an end, Priscilla wrote, "I could practically hear Elvis sigh with relief."
Lisa Marie died two years ago at age 54 from a small bowel obstruction. She left three children - Riley Keough, Harper Lockwood, and Finley Lockwood. A son, Benjamin Keough, took his own life in 2020.
