Lisa Marie Presley interview with Diane Sawyer - Prime Time

Michael Jackson! I thought you were going to go here first. I was hoping you'd forgot. Why did you marry Michael Jackson? Okay, can I just, well … What were you doing? Um, let me, let me now … I've been trying to go through this. I haven't thought much about this, what I was going to say and I just figured it would fly out of my mouth. Okay, first of all, he was very quick to … the first time I met him, sit me down and go, "Listen, I'm not gay. I know you think this, I know you think that", and he started cursing and started, you know, being a normal person. And I was like, "Wow!" So I get caught up in that I'm pulled in right away. Like, "Wow, you're so misunderstood. Oh my God, you're this guy." I fell into this whole, "You poor, sweet misunderstood thing, I'm going to save you." I fell into that. I fell in love with him, I did. In love? Yes, I fell in love at the time. Now … *** attraction? I told you, everything I said was the truth. *** attraction? At the time. Yeah. What did your mother say? She called me and said, you know, "Oh Lisa, there's helicopters outside the house and they're saying you married Michael Jackson", and I go … I was just quiet and she goes, "You didn't?" She goes, "You didn't?" And I go, "Yeah, I did" and then it was just, you know, that was that was game on for me. Whoo! Mum doesn't like it, let's go! She didn't know you were going to get married? No, no that was quick, that was like run away and do this quick thing. And you did live together? Yeah. I didn't believe that. Well, let's just put it this way, if he was in town, he was at my house. Which was how often? I don't know. It started to get less and less towards the end. Again, you can slug me on this question but I've got to go back. So these were, like, romantic nights? Mmm, mmm, yeah. I don't remember them very well, but yes. I mean, it was normal. I wasn't going to get married if it wasn't that. By the time Lisa Marie Presley married Michael Jackson, Jackson reportedly had been treated for addiction to painkillers. He was also under siege. He had been investigated for child molestation with a 12-year-old boy. Jackson settled a civil suit with the family reportedly for millions of dollars and his camp implied he was the victim of extortion. I was already friends with him, there was already some romantic stuff going on a little bit before that happened. So it was like, I was already like, you know, I was the only one he would be calling so I felt all privileged and, you know, that he was trusting me and telling me what happened and it was very convincing and I believed him, at the time. But she says her mother looked at the timing of the marriage and tried to make her see something else. That's what my mum was trying to point out like "Hello, are you awake? Can’t you see this might be co-ordinating or coinciding with something else?" And I didn't see that, like, I was young. I don't know. I mean, it looked a little suspicious but at the same time I know that he loved me, you know, as much as he can love someone, I think he did. What do you mean as much as he can love someone? I just mean, you know, as much as he can be capable of doing that. It's not something he's used to doing is having relationships with women, you know? He's sort of been a one-man show his whole life. How did it end? What happened? It just kind of went really sour, really fast. But you filed for divorce from Michael? Yes. And how did you tell him, that was it? It was when he was, you know, it was over the phone. I'd had enough. There was a lot of stuff going on then. It got really ugly at the end. It wasn't pretty but I don't want to get into it. Did he fight you getting a divorce? No, he … I think he got on to, you know, getting somebody else pregnant, right? Or having a baby. That's what he wanted. He seemed to get on that pretty quick. You know, I don't know. Did it shake your confidence? Yeah, I was pretty much needed to be mopped up off the floor after that one. And then 108 days of nuptial nitroglycerine with actor Nicolas Cage … a relationship so tempestuous she reportedly threw her $65,000 engagement ring into the ocean. You were really in love? With which one? With Nic Cage? Yeah, I was. All right, but did you throw a $65,000 ring into the ocean on a boat trip? I did not. Oh, you didn't? No, I was not the one that threw it. It did go in the water but I wasn't the one who threw it ... and it was more the $65,000! Okay, so he threw it. I didn't say that, I just said I didn't throw it but we honestly were joking thinking we are the new millennium version of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor at this point. I mean, we are going to knock each other off bar stools. Why do you marry them when it's like this? You know what it is? It's I get attracted to artists. I'm attracted to artists. I like it when someone's shaking it up, when they're different. I don't know why, I'll never know why but it's just what I get attracted to. Anyone out there who says "she's loony" … Yeah. I mean, how do you explain to them? I'll say it loud and say it proud, I'm completely insane. Have you figured out why? Um, God … no. No, I think when I figure out why I might stop and that might be boring. And she says the wild child has finally grown up. No more impulsive marital adventures. But, I mean, I guess … do you say to yourself, "How many more of these am I going to do?" Well, does this answer your question on my finger? What is this? I can barely … (laughs) These are two wedding bands and they're on my wedding finger. Would you like to tell everyone what it says on the wedding bands? I can't. No, "'blank' you." Yeah. That's kind of where I stand right now. That’s like the string on your finger to remind you … Exactly. So, inside how old are you? Twelve. That was quick, wasn't it? Even though her children are now 14 and 11, on the album there is a song for them, too. It's called So Lovely and has a lyric saying "Don't do as I do". I wrote that in my lyrics too. I wrote that song 'Don't Do as I Do'. Please, God, don't let them … but anyway, yeah. I don't know. I think it's a DNA problem or something, I can't tell. But my own children had to be, like, "Mum, stop it", you know. They're like … Oh, really? Oh, yeah! About what? Because I act like a teenager and they're usually, like, "Stop". I'm just not your average mother, I guess. So what is it you most want people to say about this album? That it was good, that it was honest, that I have actually some minute talent of my own. Five years from now, imagine a perfect day for me. It doesn't take much for me to be a perfect day. So long as there's not divorce involved in it, I'm fine.