Diane Sawyer Interview with Lisa Marie Presley (2003)
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Diane
Sawyer: We have spent a lifetime looking at her and never really known her at
all. The shy daughter of "The King" of rock 'n' roll. But 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. Lisa
Marie Presley: Very, yeah. Diane
Sawyer: 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. Lisa
Marie Presley: 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. Diane
Sawyer: Does Graceland seem like another world away or does it still seem like
home? Lisa
Marie Presley: 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. Diane
Sawyer: So who is the dad you remember? Lisa
Marie Presley: Just a very special ... I remember him as my dad but he was a very
exciting dad. Diane
Sawyer: You talk about his coming down the stairs with jewels. Lisa
Marie Presley: Chains, yeah. And he'd sing all the time. Diane
Sawyer: Did he want you to sing? Do you ever ... Lisa
Marie Presley: Oh yeah, he'd always wake me up to sing in the middle of the night,
"Get on the table and sing." Diane
Sawyer: So what was his schedule that you would keep? Lisa
Marie Presley: 4am sleep ? go to bed, 4, 5, get up at 2, 3 in the afternoon. Diane
Sawyer: Do you have the great sandwiches, the great fried banana sandwiches? Lisa
Marie Presley: 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. Diane
Sawyer: 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. Lisa
Marie Presley: All the time. All the time. Diane
Sawyer: What would you say? Lisa
Marie Presley: "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. Diane
Sawyer: 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. Lisa
Marie Presley: 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. Diane
Sawyer: He even recorded lullabies. But as time went on, his sweet daughter
became a kind of wild child. Lisa
Marie Presley: 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. Diane
Sawyer: Though nothing Lisa Marie Presley would ever do to her mum would equal
this. Lisa
Marie Presley: Oh, God. Diane
Sawyer: Michael Jackson! Lisa
Marie Presley: I thought you were going to go here first. I was hoping you'd forgot. Diane
Sawyer: Why did you marry Michael Jackson? Lisa
Marie Presley: Okay, can I just, well ... Diane
Sawyer: What were you doing? Lisa
Marie Presley: 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. Diane
Sawyer: In love? Lisa
Marie Presley: Yes, I fell in love at the time. Now ... Diane
Sawyer: Sexual attraction? Lisa
Marie Presley: I told you everything I said was the truth. Diane
Sawyer: Sexual attraction? Lisa
Marie Presley: At the time. Yeah. Diane
Sawyer: What did your mother say? Lisa
Marie Presley: 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! Diane
Sawyer: She didn't you know you were going to get married? Lisa
Marie Presley: No, no that was quick, that was like run away and do this quick thing. Diane
Sawyer: And you did live together? Lisa
Marie Presley: Yeah. Diane
Sawyer: I didn't believe that. Lisa
Marie Presley: Well, let's just put it this way, if he was in town, he was at my house.
Diane
Sawyer: Which was how often? Lisa
Marie Presley: I don't know. It started to get less and less towards the end. Diane
Sawyer: Again, you can slug me on this question but I've got to go back. So
these were, like, romantic nights? Lisa
Marie Presley: 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. Diane
Sawyer: 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. Lisa
Marie Presley: 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. Diane
Sawyer: But she says her mother looked at the timing of the marriage and tried
to make her see something else. Lisa
Marie Presley: That's what my mum was trying to point out like "Hello, are you
awake? Can 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. Diane
Sawyer: What do you mean as much as he can love someone? Lisa
Marie Presley: 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. Diane
Sawyer: How did it end? What happened? Lisa
Marie Presley: It just kind of went really sour, really fast. Diane
Sawyer: But you filed for divorce from Michael? Lisa
Marie Presley: Yes. Diane
Sawyer: And how did you tell him that was it? Lisa
Marie Presley: 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. Diane
Sawyer: Did he fight you getting a divorce? Lisa
Marie Presley: 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. Diane
Sawyer: Did it shake your confidence? Lisa
Marie Presley: Yeah, I was pretty much needed to be mopped up off the floor after that
one. Diane
Sawyer: 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. Lisa
Marie Presley: With which one? Diane
Sawyer: With Nic Cage? Lisa
Marie Presley: Yeah, I was. Diane
Sawyer: All right, but did you throw a $65,000 ring into the ocean on a boat
trip? Lisa
Marie Presley: I did not. Diane
Sawyer: Oh, you didn't? Lisa
Marie Presley: 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! Diane
Sawyer: Okay, so he threw it. Lisa
Marie Presley: 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. Diane
Sawyer: Why do you marry them when it's like this? Lisa
Marie Presley: 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.
Diane
Sawyer: Anyone out there who says "she's loony" ... Lisa
Marie Presley: Yeah. Diane
Sawyer: I mean, how do you explain to them? Lisa
Marie Presley: I'll say it loud and say it proud, I'm completely insane. Diane
Sawyer: Have you figured out why? Lisa Marie
Presley: Um, God ... no. No,
I think when I figure out why I might stop and that might be boring. Diane
Sawyer: And she says the wild child has finally grown up. No more impulsive
marital adventures. Lisa
Marie Presley: Well, does this answer your question on my finger? Diane
Sawyer:
What is this? I can barely ... (laughs) Lisa
Marie Presley: These are two wedding bands and they're on my wedding finger. Diane
Sawyer: Would you like to tell everyone what it says on the wedding bands? Lisa
Marie Presley: I can't. Diane
Sawyer: No, "'blank' you." Lisa
Marie Presley: Yeah. That's kind of where I stand right now. Diane
Sawyer: That like the string on your finger to remind you ... Lisa
Marie Presley: Exactly. Diane
Sawyer: So, inside how old are you? Lisa
Marie Presley: Twelve. That was quick, wasn't it? Diane
Sawyer: 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". Lisa
Marie Presley: 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 ... Diane
Sawyer: Oh, really? Lisa
Marie Presley: Oh, yeah! Diane
Sawyer: About what? Lisa
Marie Presley: Because I act like a teenager and they're usually, like,
"Stop". I'm just not your average mother, I guess. Diane
Sawyer: So what is it you most want people to say about this album? Lisa
Marie Presley: That it was good, that it was honest, that I have actually some minute
talent of my own. Diane
Sawyer: Five years from now, imagine a perfect day for me.
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