“I wanted to save him,” she confessed in 2010 to biographer Randy Taraborrelli.
It is with these words that Lisa Marie Presley, who died this Thursday, January 12 at the age of 54, evoked her former partner Michael Jackson on the occasion of the anniversary of his death.
The daughter of "King" Elvis Presley had indeed married "the King of the Pop" in 1994. A two-year romance, marked by the first accusations of pedophilia against the singer, which was as furtive as it was publicized.
Even today, some wonder if their romance was just a set-up.
To discover
Podcast
Scandals
> Elon Musk: childhood, love and excess
Read alsoTwenty photos of the “rock and shock” life of Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis' daughter, who disappeared on Thursday
Lisa Marie Presley was just a child when she first discovered Michael Jackson.
In 1975, then aged 7, she was one of his faithful admirers, installed, like all, in the stands of his first solo concerts in Las Vegas.
He, 10 years his senior, conquered the world with his youthful face and his hushed voice, after the success of Jackson 5, and chained hits such as
One Day in Your Life
or
Ben
.
If the daughter of Elvis Presley enjoys unlimited access to the dressing rooms of the biggest stars, she will however have to wait seventeen years for her and her idol to first become friends.
Lisa Marie Presley: childhood, love, children
In images, in pictures
See the slideshow20 photos
See the slideshow20 photos
From confidant to wife
We are in 1992 when she recrosses the path of the singer with the silver glove.
Michael Jackson is no longer the teenager he once was.
He is now 33 years old, is a planetary star, and thrills the biggest stadiums to the sounds of
Billie Jean
or
Beat It.
She, who turns 24, is married to musician Danny Keough, and has two young children, daughter Riley and son Benjamin.
The young mother becomes a groupie again in contact with her idol, and weaves her first ties with him.
Unfortunately, their reunion is quickly marred by accusations of sexual assault against the pop star.
In 1993, he was accused of sexual assault on the person of Jordan Chandler, 13 years old at the time of the facts, the first accuser of the owner of Neverland.
If Lisa Marie Presley can flee the scandal, she decides to support Michael Jackson, in the turmoil and undertakes a telephone "correspondence" throughout the investigation.
As Randy Taraborrelli writes in his eponymous biography on the King of Pop, released in 2010, the one who then displayed the poster of her favorite singer on the walls of her bedroom, takes her role as confidante very seriously.
One evening, during a final call, the friendly discussion takes a new turn.
“If I asked you to marry me, would you do it?” he asked her.
Answer: “Yes, I will”.
Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley at the Palace of Versailles.
(France, 1994.) Getty Images
To read alsoSalma Hayek, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie… the photos of the sparkling red carpet of the Golden Globes for their big comeback
"What if I married you?"
Their wedding took place a year later, in 1994. Lisa Marie Presley, then freshly divorced from Danny Keough, and Michael Jackson, exchanged their vows – sent in less than fifteen minutes – during a discreet ceremony in the Dominican Republic.
After a few weeks under the Caribbean sun, the press received the news by press release.
“My married name is Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson.
My marriage to Michael Jackson took place in a private ceremony outside the United States.
I am very in love.
I dedicate my life to being his wife.
I understand and support him.
We are both looking forward to raising a family,” she wrote.
Nevertheless, this sudden union, arising at the darkest moment of the singer's career, will be enough to feed the suspicions of a "bogus" marriage.
Suspicions reinforced a month later by a surprise appearance on the stage of the MTV Music Awards and by a fiery kiss, a bit overplayed.
If between 1995 and 1996 - the year of their divorce - the couple multiplies the front pages of magazines and public activities, the rumors of a non-existent sex life will make the headlines of the press, eager to prove their subterfuge.
In June 1995, they will go so far as to justify themselves at the microphone of journalist Diane Sawyer.
“If we have sex?
Yes, yes, I can assure you of that,” exclaimed the King of Pop.
True love or simple friendship?
If even today the question remains unanswered, Lisa Marie Presley remained the greatest support of Michael Jackson during the two years of their union.
It is she, in particular, who will persuade him to conclude an agreement to avoid a trial against his accuser Jordan Chandler - trial concluded out of court in 1994 -, or who will push him to do a rehab to counter his addiction to drugs. .
“I thought he had done nothing wrong and that he had been wrongly accused and, yes, I started to fall in love with him,” she assured biographer Randy Taraborrelli in 2010.
I wanted to save him.
I felt like I could do it."
“I loved taking care of him”
Lisa Marie Presley will finally file for divorce, in January 1996, for "irreconcilable differences".
After which, the same year, Michael Jackson will remarry with the American nurse Debbie Rowe, mother of his children Paris and Prince Jackson.
For her part, Lisa Marie Presley will exchange her vows with actor Nicolas Cage in 2002, then with musician Michael Lockwood in 2006, father of her twins Harper and Finley.
When the king of pop died in 2009, Lisa Marie Presley will admit to having been completely turned upside down.
"I loved taking care of him," she explained, in 2010, at the microphone of Oprah Winfrey.
Our marriage was one of the most intense times of my life when things were going well.
He and I were really united.”
