When Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley married on May 26,
1994, friends observed that they were a great fit after all.
Jackson always questioned any possible
love interest motives that they would only use him because of his fame and fortune.
But clearly, that wasn't the case with the heir
to the Elvis fortune, although the two were very different in personality.
They bonded and understood each other
on a deeper level due to their shared experience.
Both grew up in the spotlight,
both lived under intense media scrutiny, and both were mistrustful of outsiders
having spent most of their lives feeling exploited via their relationship.
They were able to develop a connection,
as well as an unparalleled trust in someone else in a world that often
seemed treacherous and hostile towards them.
However, this connection wasn't enough
for a lasting marriage, with the couple divorcing less than two years later.
So what did ultimately caused the relationship to break down?
Let's take a look inside the marriage, the tensions in the events that led up
to the divorce of Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson.
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Marital Problems.
During 1994, when Michael Jackson was not promoting or on tour,
the couple were allowed privacy and were as solid as any healthy marriage it was
when the two were required to appear in public together.
When Jackson felt the pressure to repair his public image in order to save his
superstar musical career that tensions between the two rose.
The pair first appeared together
on television at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards in what has been
described as a memorable moment holding hands.
The couple walked onto the stage
in New York in front of a television audience of 250 million.
Jackson announced Just Think Nobody
thought this would last before embracing Presley in a kiss afterwards.
Presley became angered at her husband, feeling he had used her.
The pop singer reasoned that the lip lock, which was dubbed the kiss of the century,
would be talked about for decades, with people playing the clip over and over.
Jackson's attempt at calming his wife proved futile, and she told the singer not
to even come near me and remained angry for several days.
The intensifying tabloid press also caused
issues as in the same week, Jackson and Presley had another argument.
News reports had been suggesting that if
Elvis were alive, he would not approve of his daughter's marriage.
Annoyed.
Jackson reportedly suggested that the couple could find out by holding
a seance to contact the deceased king of rock and roll.
Presley felt the idea was tasteless.
The two supposedly never spoke of the incident again.
Initially, Pressie felt that Jackson was
vulnerable, a child himself, and needed to be taken care of, a role she indulged in.
But once married,
when Michael gained emotional stability, he became who he was again,
the strong minded, stubborn and ambitious person that got him to where he was.
He didn't like to be told what to do
and would say to Lisa, what I do is none of your business.
He made it clear that she had to be OK
with whatever he does and not question him, but support him if she loved him.
But Lisa was not OK with that as she was concerned and also proud.
One issue the couple had was that Jackson was desperate to have children right away.
But Presley was unsure and wanted to wait,
imagining the future and what would happen if the marriage ended.
Presley saw an impending custody battle nightmare.
In addition, she felt her husband was too emotionally immature to be a parent.
Having watched his daily interactions
with other people, she believed he was the one in need of parenting.
Jackson explained to his wife over breakfast one morning that she did not
have to be the biological mother if she so desired.
He explained, My friend Debbie Rowe said she will get pregnant and have my baby.
If you won't do it, then she will.
How about that?
Unshaken and infuriated with his persistent threats,
Presley replied that it was fine by her when asked on tape of Lisa Marie ever
asked him to adopt her kids and give them financial support.
Jackson said, no, she didn't.
I never asked her because she already said
in an interview that they had their father, that other guy.
But I also wanted to be their father.
Officially, she didn't want it.
Michael Jackson said himself that Lisa was good doing hospitals with me,
but she got real angry when I wanted to visit two children who killed this
other kid in prison because I believe they didn't have a childhood.
But Lisa didn't understand it.
She thought I was rewarding bad kids.
Lisa Marie admired Jackson's commitment
to charity and giving back, but felt he also overdid it,
wanting to give love to to murdering kids and heal them.
It was an illusion, a fantasy of his, that he could do that.
A further problem for the pair was Jackson's insistence on being around
children, though she believed he was innocent.
I wouldn't let him near my kids if I thought that she felt her husband was only
opening himself up to more rumor and innuendo following the 1993
allegations and that he was leaving himself vulnerable,
that opportunists would blackmail him and threaten him in exchange for money
following several more troubled months.
Jackson ended up in the hospital after he
collapsed while rehearsing for a concert in New York.
It was around this time Presley suspected
Jackson had relapsed and his drug addiction was getting out of hand again.
There was just an occasion,
an incident where he had collapsed and he was in the hospital.
It was very confusing what was wrong.
Every day there was a different report
and I couldn't really get a straight answer about what was happening with him.
And I think we were all a little bit in the dark at that point.
I think I got from various indications that that was going on.
Then there were times when I would pick
him up from certain doctors offices and he would not be coherent, Pressley recounted.
Presley arrived at the hospital to meet
her ill husband, and yet another heated debate ensued.
The argument ended after Jackson warned
her that she was making his heart rate go up and asked her to leave.
She obliged and was escorted out by a doctor and Jackson's mother, Katherine.
Along the way,
Presley subsequently returned to Los Angeles and after being discharged,
Jackson went to Disneyland, Paris to recover.
They both had suffered from drug dependency, and Michael was beginning
to use medication to numb traumas relating to the allegations.
Lisa was in recovery at the time and feared for her own sobriety.
She stated in an interview that she did
everything in her power to support and help him get into recovery.
But he was unable to beat his many demons at that time in his life.
The separation.
Presley filed for divorce in early 1996,
citing irreconcilable differences and noting their date of separation as
December 10, 1995, shortly after the incident in the hospital.
The divorce was finalized on August 20, 1996.
As part of the settlement,
Pressley received 10 percent of the royalties from Jackson's history album.
The divorce proved difficult for Jackson,
who spent several weeks lamenting his loss.
Presley was the first person with whom he had connected on such a high level.
She had supported him as he faced
allegations and became dependent on pain medication.
It was also the first time that the pop
singer had had a deeper chemistry with another.
Presley was able to make him open up
and express himself through their physically intimate moments together,
as Presley did not sign a confidentiality agreement.
A further clause stated that Presley could
write a tell all book about her time with Jackson.
At the time, the Princess of Rock and Roll
revealed that she had no wish to write a memoir.
The singer still had respect for Jackson
and did not want to speak critically of him.
Tune in next week for Part three, where we investigate the aftermath.
As after their divorce was finalized, the two rekindled their relationship
and attempted to make it work again for several years.
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