Priscilla Presley reveals in an upcoming memoir that she was appalled by her daughter Lisa Marie's 1994 marriage to Michael Jackson and questioned whether the couple's relationship went beyond the public eye. An excerpt from Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, published in part by the Sun on Saturday, quotes Presley describing a moment when she asked Lisa Marie whether there had been a physical relationship with Jackson, and Lisa Marie allegedly replied, “Yeah.” Presley writes that she was unimpressed by the union, which lasted until 1996, and that she knew in her bones that Jackson was marrying the Presley dynasty rather than Lisa Marie alone.
She also writes that Jackson, then at the height of his fame, sought “good publicity” during a time of child-molestation allegations he strongly denied. Lisa Marie reportedly believed in his innocence, and Presley characterizes Jackson as a manipulative man who had his sights set on her daughter long before Lisa Marie realized it. The book excerpt describes Jackson as avoiding meetings with Presley and opting to mingle with children at family events, calling the relationship “bizarre” and saying, “He was marrying the Presley dynasty.”
Presley writes that Lisa Marie said Jackson wanted to have a child, but she urged her daughter to delay starting a family. When Lisa Marie filed for divorce in 1996, Presley notes that she could practically hear Elvis sigh with relief. A representative for Priscilla Presley did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment on the excerpt.
The excerpt also places Jackson in the broader context of his public image and alleged misconduct. In October 2024, an excerpt from Lisa Marie’s own memoir From Here to the Great Unknown — drawn from tapes compiled by her daughter Riley Keough — claimed the pop icon said he was a virgin when they began dating. Presley writes that Jackson began reaching out to Lisa Marie amid his child-sexual-abuse scandal and that she believed in his innocence, a stance he repeatedly denied.
Jackson died in 2009 at age 50 following a propofol overdose. The notes accompanying Priscilla’s account also reference Lisa Marie Presley’s life, including her marriages to Danny Keough, Nicolas Cage, and Michael Lockwood, and her death in 2023 at age 54 after cardiac arrest. The memoir is expected to shed new light on her daughter’s death and Presley’s memories of her romance with Robert Kardashian.
Priscilla’s forthcoming memoir is scheduled for release Sept. 23, and the publisher describes it as offering intimate portraits of Elvis Presley’s widow, her family, and her own decades in the spotlight.
