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Legends: Lisa Marie with her
interviewer, Dianne Sawyer.
Intro, Liz Hayes: She's definitely Daddy's girl. Elvis Presley's
only child, a living reminder of the King. Those eyes, that smile,
that "something" that made them seem both wild and wounded at the
same time
she has them all. And at 35, Lisa Marie Presley is still
a wild child and totally unrepentant. Totally upfront about her
bizarre marriage to Michael Jackson and her even stormier one with
Nicolas Cage. But after years of rebellion, Diane Sawyer found Lisa
Marie has at last emerged from her father's shadow and found a voice
of her own.
We
have spent a lifetime looking at her and never really known her. The
shy daughter of the King of rock 'n' roll. Now, in a stunning move,
the girl we've only known from the photos is finally speaking out on
her own. At the age of 35, she has a new album, her first. It's
called
To Whom It May Concern.
Little nervous?
Very,
yeah.
Not surprising, when you're the daughter of Elvis Presley, but for
everyone out there who's wondered if she has a voice, well listen.
This is her answer. But you can't help thinking, she looks like
Elvis.
Do you see it?
Honestly, yes, I've seen it ... but it's not something that I've
tried to do. But I have gone, like, "Oh my!" sometimes I would do
that, like, "Stop that, what are you doing?" But it's not like I'm
trying to fight it either but I can definitely see it.
Does Graceland seem like another world away or does it still seem
like home?
Graceland is like a time capsule. Nothing has changed, nothing's
been touched. It's kind of a sad thing, a life that existed there at
one time, and the history, and there was so much life but it's still
home to me, very much, when I'm there.
So
who is the dad you remember?
Just
a very special
I remember him as my dad but he was a very exciting
dad.
You talk about his coming down the stairs with jewels.
Chains, yeah. And he'd sing all the time.
Did he want you to sing? Do you ever
Oh
yeah, he'd always wake me up to sing in the middle of the night,
"Get on the table and sing."
So
what was his schedule that you would keep?
4am
sleep go to bed, 4, 5, get up at 2, 3 in the afternoon.
Do
you have the great sandwiches, the great fried banana sandwiches?
God,
that will never end. No, that's such a
it's a haunting nightmare
that. I never saw him eat one of those, to be honest with you, and I
finally just had one. Like, I took a bite about a year ago.
Even now, when she hears her father singing, something seems to
flicker across her face. Something that takes you back to the four
and five-year-old little girl who loved her glittering dad, but was
haunted by the shadows behind the light.
Did you worry about him?
All
the time. All the time.
What would you say?
"Don't die." You know, things like that. Like, "Are you going to
die?", and I would just, like, in the middle of whatever say that.
He would
"No, I'm not going anywhere, nothing's going happen to
me, don't worry about it" type-thing.
She remembers time with him as magical days. He'd hire a jet to take
her just to see the snow or hire a whole amusement park so she could
ride the carousel. Did it feel luxurious?
You
know, with him no, because it was his heart that was permeating more
than
I'm in a jet and it's, like, this man loves me.
Legends: Lisa Marie with her
parents, when she was born; with just a few months and with her dad,
when she was 4.
He
even recorded lullabies. But as time went on, his sweet daughter
became a kind of wild child. So, is your mum a rebel?
Not
at all. Not at all. No, we're like black and white, she and I. I'm
so, like, rahhh and so not
I'm so the opposite of her. Like, I
just broke every social barrier she's ever had. I'm pretty
unsolicited, unedited, no-holds barred in my speech patterns and my
behaviour. She's a beautiful person, you know, and she's very soft
spoken and very sweet and very this
and I'm just like this, like a
bull in a china shop.
Though nothing Lisa Marie Presley would ever do to her mum would
equal this. Okay Michael Jackson?
Oh,
God.
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.
Legends: Lisa Marie with
Michael Jackson, when everything was still well; and on her wedding
day to Nicolas Cage; with Nicolas Cage.
In
love?
Yes,
I fell in love at the time. Now
Sexual attraction?
I
told you, everything I said was the truth.
Sexual 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? Cant 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.
Thats 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.
Source:
60 Minutes Australia, April 27, 2003 |
