And looking back on that experience,
what do you say to yourself now,
00:00
because we all have done things in our
lives and you said I don't know what I was
00:03
thinking or didn't know what I was thinking
or that was a great lesson for me.
00:07
I don't know.
What do you say to yourself?
00:10
Holy mother of God.
00:15
OK, first of all, I heard he
wanted to meet me when I was 18.
00:29
I didn't want to because I thought he
was a freak.
00:31
Immediately I didn't want to meet him.
I thought he was a freak.
00:33
So I was like, I don't want to meet him.
00:35
And I ended up going, OK, I'll meet him.
00:36
My first impression was that he went very
much out of his way to disillusion me.
00:38
So he sat me down and said, I know you
think this and I know you think that
00:44
and he was completely
normal. I'm not gay.
00:47
I know you think this.
00:49
I know you think that and started cursing.
Started, you know, being a normal person.
00:50
And I was like, wow.
And then within 20 minutes, like,
00:54
I immediately went into oh my God,
you're not the person I thought you were.
00:56
You're actually really cool.
There was a click.
00:59
We we started talking and immediately
related to one another.
01:01
And it just kind of went from there
01:04
because we were born and raised in
different situations, different upbringings.
01:05
And there was a connection on that front.
01:10
Superstar and superstar,
yeah that fishbowl life, being oddities.
01:13
Our different circumstances
thing. Still very vulnerable.
01:16
I'd been married and had a baby
by the time I was 21 and hadn't really
01:21
been out there much and didn't
know a whole hell of a lot.
01:24
He didn't get where he
was because he's stupid.
01:28
It's unfortunate that not a lot of people
01:31
know who he really is. When he wants
to lock into you and he wants to intrigue you
01:33
or capture you or, you know, whatever
he wants to do with you, he can do it.
01:37
When Michael wants to pull you into his
life, somehow he's very good at it.
01:41
And then at that point, it was sort of
a relationship of like, I need to talk.
01:46
And I was sort of like, wow, me?
01:50
And he's already pulled me in by making
me feel like I'm the one he talks to.
01:52
And you feel protective.
01:56
You know, it's a mechanism.
01:58
So I kind of fell right into that.
01:59
Didn't necessarily think it was
going to go romantic, but it did.
02:05
seemingly all fine and real.
02:12
I fell into this whole, you poor
sweet misunderstood thing.
02:15
I'm going to save you.
You know, I fell into that.
02:18
I fell in love with him.
I did.
02:20
Yes, I fell in love at the time.
02:23
And he fell in love with me
and I fell in love with him.
02:25
And it was very real.
02:28
How did he ask you to marry him?
02:30
We were in the library in front
of the fire, and he pulled out this giant ten
02:32
carat diamond out of his pocket and
put it on my finger.
02:37
I think he got on his knees
as well and proposed.
02:40
I felt like it was the right I should do
02:44
that because it seemed more maybe that's
what I should be doing instead of
02:47
taking these dear souls and making
them feel like they're nothing.
02:52
Because he wasn't going to be bothered
that you were Presley, right.
02:55
He was a Jackson, right.
02:58
So in my mind at the time,
I'm thinking I'll marry
02:59
somebody who's even bigger or
as big or whatever than I am.
03:03
Then I can actually feel like a wife.
03:06
I can be next to the man and I can
feel more comfortable that way.
03:08
I wasn't seeking publicity myself.
03:11
I was kind of looking to feel like I can
support somebody else that I admired.
03:13
I wanted somebody comparable.
03:17
Somehow along the way,
I decided that was a solution.
03:18
I thought, OK, I'll get with somebody even
03:20
bigger than I am and then I won't
have to have those problems anymore.
03:22
Were people questioning your
relationship with him from start?
03:25
I mean, your friends and your mom?
03:29
Yeah, people weren't really into that one.
03:32
I mean, they were trying to, you know,
say certain things about it.
03:34
But I and I needed to figure it out
on my own. Because he was right in this sex
03:37
abuse scandal and things.
So what did people say to you?
03:42
Um, mostly my mom was just like, you know,
03:46
look at the timing of this
and don't be stupid.
03:49
She married the biggest star of her time.
03:51
You were going to be the biggest
music star of your time.
03:53
Nah, I don't think it was that premeditated.
03:56
I knew she really didn't
want me to do that
03:58
and I understand why.
04:00
At that time, I was still
kind of in that mode.
04:01
It was just her reaction to my even dating
04:04
him was like, you know, typical mother
daughter, like, oh, you don't like him?
04:06
Good.
He's going to be my husband.
04:10
She called me and said, oh Lisa
04:12
there's helicopters outside the house
and they're saying you married Michael Jackson,
04:15
and I was just quiet
04:20
and she goes, You didn't?
04:22
She goes, you didn't?
04:25
Honestly, don't like attention on me,
04:30
loved being next to him
and taking care of him.
04:33
I was on such a high doing that.
04:37
I am not lying when I say that he had
04:39
something so intoxicating
about him and when he was on and when he
04:42
was ready to share with you or give it
to you and be himself and allow you
04:46
to come in, I don't know if I've ever been
that intoxicated by anything.
04:51
And you did live together?
04:56
Yeah, well, let's just put it this way.
04:58
If he was in town, he was at my house.
05:01
I have to ask you this.
05:02
Was it a consummated marriage?
05:04
I have to ask that question
05:10
and you all know damn
well you want to know.
05:12
I mean, it was a real marriage,
05:20
like between the husband and wife? Yep
It was a consummated marriage? Yep
05:22
It was? OK that's all.
05:26
Sexual attraction? I told you everything
I said was the truth.
05:27
What about the way he looks?
I told you.
05:31
see now, I'm not attracted to mediocrity
or normalcy or things like that.
05:34
I think certain things are... I'm weird.
05:38
I don't know, I'm whacked.
05:42
So these were like romantic nights.
05:43
I don't remember them very well, but yes.
05:48
I mean, it was normal.
05:49
I wasn't going to get
married if it wasn't that.
05:52
I even remember thinking,
how is that going to happen?
05:54
You know, I can't even imagine
him like that, whatever.
05:56
And then he quickly disillusioned me of that idea.
05:59
I honestly can tell you that it was
06:01
in every sense a normal marriage
and everything was spoken.
06:04
And, you know, in the middle of the night,
06:08
if he needed to wake up and tell me
and bounce something off me
06:11
and I loved taking care of him. It was the highest point of my life.
06:16
One of the very highest points of my life
was when things were going really well.
06:21
And he and I were united together.
06:25
And he and I had an understanding about
06:28
some of the people and the things
that could go on around him.
06:30
And he was with me on those things.
06:34
And we were we were a unit.
06:36
When you have that situation that you have
its drawbacks, which is, you know,
06:42
entourage of people,
I didn't like the attention.
06:46
I mean, It was a shit storm.
06:49
I mean, I couldn't go anywhere.
06:52
He needed to do his thing.
06:54
I would be there uncomfortably,
like the MTV thing.
06:55
Whar about that Diane Sawyer interview of you
and Michael, was that weird?
07:03
Yeah, that was a little strange.
It was very strange.
07:07
I mean, I was a nervous wreck.
07:10
So did you regret doing it?
I did.
07:11
After it was a little disturbing.
07:14
I was looking into the future and I was
07:19
thinking, I don't ever want to get
into a custody battle with him.
07:21
I don't want to do this.
I don't want to go head to head with him.
07:25
So I need to make sure
that everything around is good.
07:27
I've had children I knew bringing
children into certain circumstances.
07:30
You have to make sure everything's
safe and secure and OK.
07:34
And I wanted to make sure that he and I
07:37
were really, really united because we
were going to be up against so much.
07:39
I do feel there was an agenda there, too,
though, because I think he wanted children
07:43
and he wanted her children. Oh,
mother, what are you doing right now?
07:46
he would come tell me, if
you're not going to do it
07:54
Debbie said she'll do it
so we would get into it.
07:56
What about him and drugs? I never saw it,
but I suspected I don't know though
07:59
because there's been talk about
painkillers all the way through
08:06
It's funny because I don't, I
never saw it, so I can't answer.
08:11
Did you suspect a drug problem?
08:14
Honestly, I didn't really
suspect and catch on.
08:16
You know, there was just an occasion,
08:21
an incident where he had collapsed
and he was in the hospital.
08:23
This is during the HBO.
08:26
It was very confusing what was wrong,
because every day there was a different
08:29
report and I couldn't
tell what was happening.
08:33
Dehydration, low blood pressure,
exhaustion, a virus.
08:37
So I couldn't really get a straight answer
08:41
as to what was happening
with him. At that point,
08:43
I think I got from various
08:45
indications, I believed
that that was going on then.
08:49
How did it end?
What happened?
08:56
It just kind of went
really sour really fast.
08:58
It sort of just dwindled out
09:00
of control and it went to hell
in a handbasket, basically.
09:02
There was a very profound point in the
marriage when he had to make a decision.
09:07
Was it the drugs and
the sort of vampires or me?
09:12
And he pushed me away.
09:16
Vampires? Spiders? Vampires?
Sucking his blood.
09:18
Yeah.
So you saw that all around him?
09:22
Oh, God, yes.
But you filed for divorce from Michael.
09:25
Yes.
And how did you tell him that was it?
09:27
It was when he was you know,
I was on the phone.
09:31
I'd had enough.
There was a lot of stuff going on then.
09:34
It got really ugly in the end, it wasn't pretty.
09:39
I left him to, sort of
09:42
stomp my foot into the ground and go.
09:46
I was trying to take a stand and say,
come with me, don't do this.
09:48
And it was a stupid move because he didn't.
Did he fight
09:53
you getting a divorce?
09:56
No, he I think he got on to
getting somebody else pregnant.
09:58
Right?
Or having a baby.
10:02
That's what he wanted.
10:04
He seemed to get on that pretty quick.
10:05
And I don't know, you know,
I got out and then four days later,
10:07
I started having chronic panic attacks
and my body just freaked out on me.
10:11
Yeah I was pretty much needed to be mopped
up off the floor after that one.
10:17
I was quiet for about a year and I
fell apart physically for a while.
10:22
So I went through this whole series
10:26
of just body falling apart,
you know, stress.
10:28
The gallbladder just
went to zero function.
10:30
I had to get it taken out.
10:32
I had Mono and Epstein bar
10:34
and that was like just fever that wouldn't
go away and really ill. God so much because
10:38
it took me a good two years
to come out of that, you know.
10:41
And I mean, physically, mentally,
I really had to I went through a lot
10:44
to to remove myself out of that, you know,
because you sort of fall into a way
10:49
of thinking and existing
when you're in that bubble.
10:53
And it took me a long
time to detach myself.
10:56
We again, we're going
to get back together.
10:59
We spent four more years after we
11:02
divorced,
getting back together and breaking up
11:05
and talking about getting back
together and breaking up.
11:08
And at some point I had to push it away
11:11
because it was just not I wasn't
moving forward with myself.
11:14
You said you loved him?
You think he loved you?
11:17
God, it's hard for me
to answer that question.
11:24
I don't know the answer to that.
11:27
Do you think that he loved
you as much as he could? Yes.
11:30
That yes, as much as he was capable
of loving somebody and all that.
11:35
You know, and for whatever reason
in my life, I had to go through that.
11:40
why I had to go through that, but I did.
And I got through it.
11:45
And, you know,
but I have to say in retrospect that he
11:48
honestly tried so hard and went
through so much with me.
11:53
And I know now and I look back,
11:57
he's never done that with any
other female or anyone.
11:58
I really admire that he
really gave it a good shot.
12:01
You know, I didn't appreciate
it then and I wish I did.
12:05
It sort of stigmatized me, you know,
without my knowing about it.
12:11
So I regret that.
I got to ask you about Michael Jackson.
12:16
I'm not going to answer though.
12:19
You're sick of being asked
about that I'm sure.
12:19
No more discussion about him. Ok.
12:23
Because I'm
always associated with that.
12:27
You know, everything's about that.
12:29
You were married to Michael Jackson.
12:31
That's like the biggest, you know,
and it turned me into a freak.
12:32
As for Michael's current controversy,
12:36
fuelled by the British documentary.
That was a train wreck, you know.
12:38
Lisa Marie says she never
saw any inappropriate behavior.
12:41
If I'd seen anything, believe me, his
ass would have been hanging from a tree.
12:45
I never saw anything like that.
12:50
Now, I don't know what's
happening lately with him.
12:51
I really don't.
I hope he clears it up.
12:52
Coherently, good conversation was in 2005.
12:55
It was a very long conversation.
13:00
Please keep your head together, please.
13:02
If this goes to trial,
please hold it together.
13:04
And he said, what are you talking about?
What do you mean?
13:07
He said, you mean drugs?
13:08
I said yes because all I saw, you know,
13:10
there was a few year period there where random things were coming out whether it was
13:12
a Martin Bashir
interview or various interviews.
13:16
And in those interviews,
I saw him intoxicated.
13:19
I didn't see the Michael that I knew
in that Martin Bashir interview.
13:22
He was high as a kite.
13:26
From what I saw and from what I knew, he
was either too speedy or he was sedated.
13:27
It wasn't the Michael that I knew.
13:33
And he asked if I still loved him.
13:35
And we went into a whole thing about that.
13:38
And I told him I was indifferent
and he didn't like that word.
13:40
And then the final part
of the conversation was him
13:44
telling me that he felt that
that someone was going to try and kill him
13:48
to get hold of his catalogue
and his estate.
13:52
Lisa Marie says she and the Jackson family
14:00
spent years trying to save Michael
from self-destructive behavior.
14:03
She claims it left her emotionally
and spiritually exhausted.
14:06
But she writes, As I sit here,
14:10
overwhelmed with sadness,
reflection and confusion at what was
14:12
my biggest failure to date,
watching on the news almost play by play.
14:16
The exact scenario I saw
happen on August 16th, 1977.
14:21
Happening again right now with Michael,
14:26
a sight I never wanted to see again,
just as he predicted, I am truly gutted.
14:29
Lisa Marie Presley coming out and giving
14:35
some giving some statements that she
put up on her MySpace page.
14:37
And I thought this was interesting because
14:40
so many people have speculated for years
that their marriage was a sham.
14:41
Yeah, this is a very interesting
look inside Michael Jackson.
14:45
He looked at Lisa Marie Presley at one
14:48
point and said, and I quote, I'm afraid
that I'm going to end up like him.
14:51
Michael was always asking
you about your father.
14:57
And he said, I feel like I'm
going to end up the same way.
15:00
And did you say why?
15:03
Yeah, I was like,
what are you talking about?
15:04
And I don't understand.
15:07
Down to the play by play
by play incident was identical.
15:09
The one thing that correlates with
15:14
with Michael and with my father on this
subject is that they had the luxury
15:16
of creating whatever reality
around them they wanted to create.
15:21
They could have
the kinds of people who were going to go
15:24
with their program or not
go with their program.
15:27
And if they weren't,
then they could be disposed of.
15:29
It is the reality of being a God in your
own world, right, when it's this unusual
15:32
reality in an ivory tower,
in this godlike life
15:38
mixed with an addiction,
that's when you get into trouble.
15:41