Lisa Marie Presley shared the chilling final conversation she had with Michael Jackson, just before his tragic death in 2009. This poignant exchange, described in her posthumous memoir From Here to the Great Unknown , was completed by her daughter Riley Keough after Lisa’s passing in January 2023. The memoir details not just their relationship but also the haunting end to their love story. According to the book, during one of their last phone calls, Presley reached out to Jackson and immediately sensed something was wrong. As per Unilad , she described his voice as ‘not sober,’ and what he said next haunted her for years. She claimed Jackson said, “You were right. Everybody around me wants to kill me.”
On September 3, 2009, Lisa Marie attended Michael Jackson’s funeral with nearly 200 of his closest friends and family members. At the end of the service, after most people left, she was the last one standing there with his casket. pic.twitter.com/VPSdNg94tP
— Presley Jackson (@MJLMP_Official) October 10, 2020
Jackson’s death was attributed to acute propofol intoxication— a tragedy that left Lisa devastated. She reportedly often reflected on her ex-husband’s fears about meeting a similar fate as her famous father, Elvis Presley. Keough, detailing Jackson’s death, wrote, “My mom was in London, writing a record, when Michael died . My mom later told Oprah that Michael often said he was afraid of ending up like her father. He was forever asking my mom about when Elvis died, how it happened, where, and why.”
The memoir also dives into the more intimate and complex aspects of their relationship, revealing that Jackson, despite his superstar status and public persona, had apparently never been intimate with anyone before Lisa. At the age of 35, when they began dating, Jackson confided in Lisa, who later recounted, “He told me he was still a virgin. I think he had kissed Tatum O’Neal, and he’d had a thing with Brooke Shields, which hadn’t been physical apart from a kiss. He said Madonna had tried to hook up with him once, too, but nothing happened. I was terrified because I didn’t want to make the wrong move.”
The pair’s relationship, which began in 1994, was a whirlwind and short-lived. Lisa, fresh off her divorce from musician Danny Keough, married Jackson just 20 days later. Their ceremony in the Dominican Republic was quick, lasting only 15 minutes, but the union had captured global attention. Lisa wrote, “Michael said, ‘I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m completely in love with you. I want us to get married and for you to have my children.’ I didn’t say anything immediately, but then I said, ‘I’m really flattered, I can’t even talk.’ By then, I felt I was in love with him too.”
Lisa, only 25 at the time, and Jackson, ten years older, appeared to be an unusual match, but their connection was profound. But the relationship soon became strained, as reported by Mirror . Lisa revealed, “I figured that Michael would have me have the children and then dump me, get me out of the picture. I could read him like a clock…I understood everything about him because all we did was [pour] our souls to one another. I knew his nature.” This suspicion, combined with other issues, eventually led Lisa to end the marriage in 1996, though the divorce was not finalized until 2004. Despite the split, Lisa and Jackson remained close friends until his death.