Getty
Lisa Marie Presley is Michael Jackson’s first wife. They were married from 1994 to 1996.
Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley, has been married four times. She has four children from two of those marriages, neither of which were from her marriage with Jackson.
Of Jackson, Presley said to Oprah Winfrey in 2010, “He was an incredible, dynamic person,” she says. “He had something so intoxicating about him, and when he was ready to share with you and be himself—I don’t know if I’ve ever been that intoxicated by anything. … He was like a drug for me.”
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Presley & Jackson Were Married From 1994-96; They Had No Children Together
Presley and Jackson first met at a Jackson Five event; twenty days after her divorce from musician Danny Keough, she married Jackson.
Though Jackson’s sexuality has been questioned by many over the years, Presley confirmed to a biographer that their marriage was “sexual,” though they were divorced after two years. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2010, Presley talked about Jackson’s substance abuse issues during their time together, and maintained that she loved him very much. She said, “I loved taking care of him. It was one of the highest points in my life when things were going really well, and he and I were united. It was a very profound time of my life.”
Following her marriage to Jackson, Presley was then married to Nicholas Cage, then divorced him, then married guitarist Michael Lockwood in 2006. She and Lockwood divorced in 2017.
2. Presley & Jackson Were Together When Jackson Was First Accused of Molestation
Jackson was first accused of molestation by a man named Evan Chandler who came out with allegations of sexual abuse against Jackson in 1993. Presley remained supportive of Jackson throughout the controversy.
She said of the time period, “I believed he didn’t do anything wrong, and that he was wrongly accused and, yes, I started falling for him. I wanted to save him. I felt that I could do it.”
To Winfrey in 2010, Presley reiterated that she believed firmly in Jackson’s innocence, arguing that some of his more bizarre interviews might have been an act of rebellion. She said, “I think he said stuff sometimes to be defiant. He got so angry at having been accused. I think that sometimes he was such a little stubborn rebel and, like a child, he would just say what he felt everyone didn’t want him to say.”
When Winfrey pressed her to answer whether she had ever seen anything suspicious, Presley answered, “No. … I was never in that room. I can tell you I never saw anything like that.”
3. Presley Has Been Married Four Times; as of 2016, She Is Single
Presley was first married to Danny Keough, from 1988-1994. Then she was married to Jackson from 1994-96. Following her divorce from Jackson, she married Nicholas Cage. The two were together for two years, before divorcing in 2004. Presley then married Lockwood, her guitarist and producer. The two were together for ten years before divorcing in 2016.
Presley filed for sole custody of her children after claiming she found out that her husband had been collecting footage related to child pornography, E! News reports. The publication further reported that in the court documents filed for custody, Presley said her husband “[had] hundreds of inappropriate photos of children and is facing allegations of sexual abuse and neglect.”
4. Presley Has Four Children, Two From Her First Marriage & Two From Her Fourth
Presley has four children. She had two children with Keough, and two with Lockwood.
5. Michael Jackson Had Two Children With His Second Wife & a Third Child Via Surrogate
Though Jackson and Presley did not have children together, Jackson married a woman named Debbie Rowe after he and Presley were divorced. Together, Rowe and Jackson had two children, a girl named Paris and a boy named Michael.
Rowe and Jackson were divorced in 1999. Jackson would go on to have another child, Blanket Jackson, via an anonymous surroate.