Why did Lisa Marie marry Michael Jackson? Their romance detailed

Lisa Marie’s marriage to Micheal Jackson was the polar opposite of her union with her first husband. Marie’s marriage to the unknown Danny Keough was low-key, rarely appearing in tabloids. In contrast, her union with Micheal Jackson shook the entertainment world to its core – the daughter of the King of Rock and Roll married to the King of Pop. 

It was a fusion of entertainment royalty, which predictably attracted plenty of media attention. Lisa, previously hidden from the world, inevitably became tabloid fodder. The marriage surprised many, especially as it came 20 days after Lisa’s divorce from Danny. 

Lisa Marie married Michael Jackson because she thought she could save him

Lisa Marie and Michael Jackson connected in the mid-90s via a mutual friend. She was married to Danny Keough when she met Michael. 

The couple talked often – Micheal proposed to the still-married Lisa in 1993 during a late-night phone conversation. Marie said she would marry Jackson. At the time, Michael was facing child molestation charges, prompting him to turn to Marie for support. 

“You get sucked into the, ‘You poor, misunderstood person.’ I’m a sucker for that,” Lisa told Rolling Stone. “I got into this whole, ‘I’m going to save you’ thing.”

Lisa and Jackson married in May 1994 in the Dominican Republic. Jackson said the couple opted for a low-key ceremony because otherwise, ‘the press would have made it a fiasco’. Lisa announced to the media:

“My married name is Mrs. Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson. My marriage to Michael Jackson took place in a private ceremony outside the United States weeks ago. I am very much in love with Michael. I dedicate my life to being his wife.”

Lisa expressed her intention to start a family with Michael, but few people expected their marriage to last. Lisa quickly realized she couldn’t save a man who didn’t want salvation. 

Michael’s addiction to opioids started when he suffered severe burns in 1984. Lisa told Oprah Winfrey that Jackson chose drugs over her: ‘He had to make a decision. Was it the drugs and the vampires or me? And he pushed me away.”

Lisa Marie and Michael Jackson separated in December 1995 and finalized their divorce in August 1996. 

Marie’s final conversation with Michael made him cry

In 2010, Lisa Marie described his heartbreaking final conversation with Michael: “He asked if I still loved him and I told him I was indifferent. And he didn’t like that word and he cried.”

After Michael’s death, Lisa wrote on her website that after the divorce, she obsessed about him and wondered what she could have done differently. Lisa said that after several years of anger, she became indifferent. She wrote:

“The person I failed to help is being transferred right now to the L.A. County Coroner’s office for his Autopsy. All of my indifference and detachment that I worked so hard to achieve over the years has just gone into the bowels of hell and right now I am gutted.”