Why did Presley marry Jackson in 1994?
“Because I fell in love with him,” Presley says briskly. A lot of people found the union odd.
“I don’t know why, because we were actually similar in a lot of ways. We didn’t have conventional lives. It made sense to me.” He was loveable? “Very.”
Was she acting out some desire to “save” Jackson in a way she couldn’t her father?
“I’m sure there were things about Michael that reminded me of my dad. I don’t think it’s unfair to say I’m still a sucker for a father figure. I think I always have been. There were probably things they shared that intrigued me. Both were incredibly dynamic and iconic. My father set the precedent for me early. There were some big shoes to fill.”
Was Jackson gay? “Absolutely not, not in any way shape or form. Not, not, not, not.” She was with him when the first child molestation charges were made. “I always maintain it’s not anything I was around for and nothing I witnessed.”
Did she want to have children with him?
“In the beginning, yes.” They divorced after two years in 1996. “I hoped it would be the one that would last, but that was a messy situation. Too many people got involved between us.” She means entourages. “We both allowed that, which was a mistake.”
Jackson’s death in 2009 “was really confusing and really, really painful. Our relationship was something I had parked away, pushed away. It brought it all back in a way I was not prepared for, things I hadn’t dealt with. Some of the things that we went through could never be fixed or resolved. It was devastating.”
They last spoke in 2005. She spent time alone with his body after the private funeral: “Not an easy thing.” Now she has found “some peace, it can quiet but never go away”. She remains close with matriarch Katherine, presently in reported dispute with her son’s children. “They’re really sweet, incredible people,” Presley says of the Jacksons.
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