Priscilla Presley is sharing how she really felt about her daughter Lisa Marie Presley’s marriage to Michael Jackson.
In her new memoir, “Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis,” Priscilla called Jackson a “manipulative man” attempting to trade on her family’s famous name.
“I was appalled by the marriage,” she wrote, according to excerpts given to The Sun. “I knew in my bones that Michael wasn’t marrying Lisa Marie; he was marrying the Presley dynasty.”
She continued, “Michael was a manipulative man, and I think he had his sights set on her long before she realized it. The childlike innocence he projected was part of his public mask.”
Priscilla claims Jackson needed “good publicity” after he was accused of child molestation, which he had always denied. She says Lisa Marie believed his innocence.
In her memoir, Priscilla said her relationship with Jackson was “bizarre” and claimed he avoided her at all costs, preferring to spend time with children rather than adults at family gatherings.
According to her, Lisa Marie said Jackson wanted a baby, but Priscilla urged her to wait.
Priscilla said she also asked her daughter about having a physical relationship with Jackson.
“I asked her if they had a physical relationship. Like so many people, I wasn’t sure,” she wrote. “She said yeah.
Lisa Marie and Jackson married in 1994 and later divorced in 1996.
When Lisa Marie filed for the divorce, Priscilla said, “I could practically hear Elvis sigh with relief.
“Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis” is available Tuesday.