Priscilla Presley Felt Michael Jackson Married Lisa Marie Only Out of 'Intrigue' for Elvis Presley

Priscilla Presley has been quite open about the fact that she was concerned about her daughter Lisa Marie Presley's marriage to Michael Jackson. The King of Pop and Lisa Marie, who passed away in January of this year, were married from 1994 to 1996; however, Priscilla was concerned that Jackson was more interested in Elvis Presley, Lisa Marie's father, which is why the two even got married in the first place.

As reported by The Daily Mail, Priscilla revealed that she and Lisa Marie had an open discussion regarding her daughter's feelings for Jackson. In an interview with Piers Morgan, Priscilla said, "She [Lisa] said, 'Mom, I'm really concerned, I never see him. He is always gone.'" Priscilla also told the host, "I always felt that Michael Jackson loved Elvis, or respected Elvis, so I always felt that having the name, associated with the name with his daughter, I was concerned." According to Priscilla, she 'never got to know' her son-in-law.

Jackson was Lisa's second husband, and the two first met when she was just a little girl in 1970. They reconnected in 1992 when she was still married to Danny Keough. They tied the knot in 1993, but their marriage didn't last long. Lisa Marie and Jackson kept in touch after their brief marriage ended, with their last chat taking place in 2005, four years before Jackson's death in June 2009. As per Oprah, Lisa subsequently stated that the intense attention she and Jackson endured during their marriage made her want to 'protect' Jackson at all costs.

During an appearance on Oprah Winfrey's show, Lisa revealed the actual reason she filed for divorce: she was allegedly under 'quite a bit' of pressure from the pop singer to start a family with him. According to The Things, she said at the time, "I was looking into the future and was thinking, 'I never want to get into a custody battle with him, I don't want to do this, I don't want to go head to head with him'. I needed to make sure everything all around was good. I had children, and I knew bringing [in] children into certain circumstances, you have to make sure everything was safe and secure and OK. I wanted to make sure he and I were really, really united because we were going to be up against so much."

Lisa later said that Jackson threatened her with his new friend Debbie Rowe if she didn't have children with him. The late singer apparently met Rowe at a dermatological clinic In order to heal his vitiligo. As per Lisa, Jackson told her, "'If you're not gonna do it, Debbie said she'll do it.' And we would get into arguments because that wasn't how to handle it." In 1996, Rowe tied the knot with Jackson. Then, in 1997 and 1998, respectively, she gave birth to Prince and Paris Jackson.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on November 4, 2023. It has since been updated.