&34;Michael had started reaching out to her when the child abuse charges went public. I think that's how he hooked her in the beginning,&34; Presley says in her

"Michael had started reaching out to her when the child abuse charges went public. I think that's how he hooked her in the beginning," Presley says in her memoir.

Priscilla Presley says Michael Jackson married Lisa Marie to look like 'desirable heterosexual man'

"Michael had started reaching out to her when the child abuse charges went public. I think that's how he hooked her in the beginning," Presley says in her memoir.

By Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum

Sydney Bucksbaum is a staff writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2019 and is a published author. Her work has previously appeared in TV Guide Magazine, E! News/E! Online, The Hollywood Reporter, Mashable, Bustle, IGN, DCComics.com, Inverse, The Daily Northwestern, and more.

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September 24, 2025 5:16 p.m. ET

Priscilla Presley in 2024. Credit:

Gregg DeGuire/Variety via Getty

Priscilla Presley is slamming her late daughter Lisa Marie Presley's "disastrous" marriage to Michael Jackson as a publicity stunt.

In Priscilla's new memoir, *Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis* (out now), she reveals that she didn't approve of Lisa Marie's sudden wedding to the "Thriller" singer on May 26, 1994, in a secret ceremony in the Dominican Republic — and that her "lack of enthusiasm was obvious."

"I was appalled by the marriage," Priscilla says in her book. "I knew in my bones that Michael wasn't marrying Lisa Marie; he was marrying the Presley dynasty. The King of Pop was allying himself with the King of Rock and Roll."

Priscilla didn't believe that Jackson actually loved her daughter. She thought the timing of his legal issues was too much of a coincidence and that he only wanted to use Lisa Marie to better his public image.

Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson on September 5, 1994, in Versailles, France.

Stephane Cardinale/Sygma via Getty

"He married her at a time when he desperately needed good publicity that depicted him as a desirable heterosexual man," Priscilla says. "It was one thing to legally fight the child molestation charges against him. There was no way to come out of that looking good. But photos of him with Elvis's daughter wearing the huge diamond engagement ring he'd had made for her? That image was pure gold."

Lisa Marie had previously met Jackson when she was a child, and they reconnected years later when he reached out to her "when the child abuse charges went public."

"I think that's how he hooked her in the beginning," Priscilla says. "She felt sorry for him, and naturally, she believed in his innocence. Nobody wants to believe those kinds of allegations against someone they know. They began talking on the phone regularly, and she was gradually drawn in. Michael was a manipulative man, and I think he had his sights set on her long before she realized it."

Priscilla claims that "the childlike innocence he projected was part of his public mask," and so she brought her worries directly to Lisa Marie. Her daughter didn't listen at the time, however, even though she "learned early on" that Jackson's public persona was different than who he was in private, Priscilla says.

"It bothered her, but she didn't see it for the warning sign it was," Priscilla says.

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When Jackson told Lisa Marie he wanted to have children with her, Priscilla believed it was once again a publicity stunt.

"I was privately wondering why the hurry," Priscilla says. "I didn't trust his motives. A child would be a proof of virility. And I couldn't help wondering if he wanted to have Elvis' grandchild."

Priscilla claims that Lisa Marie told her that Jackson threatened to have children with Debbie Rowe instead if she didn't want to. (Jackson would later marry and have two children with Rowe: Prince, 28, and Paris, 27.)

"Oh, boy. Big red flag," Priscilla says. "Thank God, Lisa agreed with me that it was better to wait. I asked her if they had a physical relationship. Like so many people, I wasn't sure."

According to Priscilla, Lisa Marie said they did. But her biggest complaint was that she never saw him despite being married and that he would disappear for days at a time without explanation.

"It was a very strange relationship," Priscilla says. "Lisa was very unhappy. Michael was never around. She knew that sometimes when he was gone, he was at his ranch with the kids. It bothered her that he would rather be with them than with her. I think that eventually, the allegations ate away at her."

Ultimately, the marriage ended after two years because Lisa Marie "had enough," according to Priscilla.

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"She called to tell me she wanted a divorce," Priscilla adds. "She had begun to feel like the marriage was a setup. He didn't want to be with her; he wanted to be with Elvis Presley's daughter. If he'd wanted to be with her, he wouldn't have been gone for most of their marriage."

When Lisa Marie filed for divorce on Jan. 18, 1996, Priscilla "could practically hear Elvis sigh with relief."

Jackson died in 2009 at 50 of acute propofol intoxication, and Lisa Marie died in 2023 at 54 of cardiac arrest. Before Jackson, Lisa Marie was previously married to musician Danny Keough, with whom she shared two children: Riley, 36, and Benjamin, who died at 27 by suicide in 2020. She also married Nicolas Cage for two years before her marriage to musician Michael Lockwood, with whom she shared twin daughters Harper and Finley, now 16. She and Lockwood divorced in 2021.

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