Jackson Was Afraid He’d Die Like Elvis
Jun. 26 2009, Published 6:12 a.m. ET
Lisa Marie Presley wrote a candid note to her fans on Friday explaining the truth behind her marriage to Michael Jackson, his family’s longtime fears about his well-being, and Jackson’s prediction he would end up like her father Elvis.
“He Knew.” she wrote about a conversation she had with him years ago. “I can't recall the exact subject matter but he may have been questioning me about the circumstances of my Fathers Death. At some point he paused, he stared at me very intensely and he stated with an almost calm certainty, "I am afraid that I am going to end up like him, the way he did."
“I promptly tried to deter him from the idea, at which point he just shrugged his shoulders and nodded almost matter of fact as if to let me know, he knew what he knew and that was kind of that.”
Presley also addressed the validity of their marriage for the first time: “Our relationship was not ‘a sham’ as is being reported in the press. It was an unusual relationship yes, where two unusual people who did not live or know a ‘Normal life’ found a connection, perhaps with some suspect timing on his part. Nonetheless, I do believe he loved me as much as he could love anyone and I loved him very much.”
She admitted that even 14 years ago, his family and friends “wanted to save him” and were “all worried that this would be the outcome.”
“I wanted to save him from the inevitable which is what has just happened,” Presley wrote. “I became very ill and emotionally/ spiritually exhausted in my quest to save him from certain self-destructive behavior and from the awful vampires and leeches he would always manage to magnetize around him.”
“As I sit here overwhelmed with sadness, reflection and confusion at what was my biggest failure to date, watching on the news almost play by play The exact Scenario I saw happen on August 16th, 1977 happening again right now with Michael (A sight I never wanted to see again) just as he predicted, I am truly, truly gutted.”