Lisa Marie Presley‘I fell in love withMichael Jackson.He remindedme of my dad.They were bothdynamic’By Tim Teeman

THEBILLIONAIREWHO KEEPSON GIVINGJanice Turner meetsMelinda Gates

MAKE LOVENOT PORNThe womanwho tookon the sex industry

13.10.12

LisaMarie Presley on lifewith her father, marriagetoMichael Jackson andwhy she’s moved to Sussex

Portrait Emily Shur

opposite: Elvis Presleywith Lisa Marie in 1969.

this page: Lisa MariePresley in 2012. Clothes

by Dolce & Gabbana

DaDDy’sGirl

intErviEw Tim Teeman

46 The Times Magazine

he day before Lisa Marie Presley andI are to meet, the National Enquirerreports Presley’s fourth marriage ison the rocks and her singing careerin freefall after poor album salesand poorly attended concerts.

But in a Los Angelesphotography studio, the 44-year-olddaughter of Elvis Presley – dressedin diaphanous blue shirt, her Sixties-

styled hair and smoky eyes recalling hermother, Priscilla, when younger – seems farfrom a wreck. The custodian of Graceland,and heir to her father’s estimated $150 millionfortune, Presley lives partly in Los Angeles andpartly, surreally, outside the Sussex village ofRotherfield, where she reportedly consideredjoining the Kings Arms’ ladies’ darts team andhas served fish and chips from their mobile van.

Between pictures, Presley kisses herhusband, Michael Lockwood, father of herthree-year-old twin daughters Harper andFinley, tenderly. She initially sits at an angleto me, looking at the door, but later relaxes.Two of her team say they will be “right outsideif…”, but Presley is ballsy, intelligent and candid(not “a victim”, she insists), if wary of everyone:“I’m always on my guard.”

Three years ago, Presley deconstructed her“life and regime I had around me – confidants,friends, hangers-on – when I realised no onewas as I thought. There were quite a fewbetrayals, it was the magnitude of how many...and I didn’t see it. I was in a labyrinth ofcomplete manipulation and didn’t know it.Uncovering it was really shocking. People whoI thought were well-intended were not. I got ridof absolutely everybody from my life, besidesmy husband, children, mother and family.”

She sighs. “Then I began to write: I processpain through music. People don’t understandfame. I’m not whining or saying, ‘Woe is me,’but you have to question the intentions of thepeople closest to you. Friends you’ve had yourwhole life can turn out to be really wrong.I thought I had a good BS detector, but no.Seeing the truth set me free; a lot of the angerhas gone.” Explaining Storm & Grace, the titleof her third album, she says, “As you get olderyou get more graceful. You hope to, anyway.”

Was she being cheated of money? “No, itwas a sinister scene about control and power,manipulating me into doing things ornot doing things. Going to England andwriting songs was my therapy.” She livedin Richmond, southwest London, for eightmonths, then found a home “in the middleof nowhere; my only preference was it had tobe an hour by train from London. We movedthere knowing no one. I needed to be aroundnormalcy, which I have found the Englishcountryside gives me. Being around normal,good people – I’m talking about Englishvillagers – made a huge difference.”

So is she joining a darts team? “I go toa few pubs and don’t play darts.” What ofthe rumoured failing career? “The NationalEnquirer is obsessively trying to make me failwhatever I’m doing. If I sold everything [interms of albums], they’d say I was failing.”US critics have praised the new album: RollingStone said, “Storm & Grace is the album she wasborn to make – a raw, powerful, country, folkand blues collection that finds her embracingher Southern roots and family name.” She ishappier with the “bluesy, organic, Americanafeel of this record” than the previous two, shesays. “This is not an instant gratification genre.It takes a lot more work to win an audienceover.” What about her allegedly crumblingmarriage? “There is absolutely no truthwhatsoever to the story my marriage is failing.I will be with him till one of us is dead.”

England has provided much-neededsanctuary. “For the children it’s vastly different.In the US you’re saturated with celebrity.It’s more civilised in England. It resemblessomething from the Fifties, the children intheir school uniforms. I love that I know lotsof people in my village. Jeff Beck lives near usand we hang out with him and his wife.” Aren’tvillagers agog when Lisa Marie Presley popsinto the butcher’s? “Either they’re not goingto pay any attention because they know who

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‘I was in a labyrinth ofcompletemanipulationand didn’t know it… I gotrid of everybody frommylife, besidesmy family’

Priscilla, Elvis andLisa Marie Presley inCalifornia, 1968. Below:With Priscilla last year

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Lisa Marie wears dressby Michael Kors, shoes

by Guiseppe Zanotti

The Times Magazine 49

you are, or they’re just going to be polite. Thereare ways to keep clear of fame. I wasn’t raisedto call the paparazzi when I went to Starbucks;now it’s, ‘Do all you can to get into the tabloids.’You don’t have to be terrorised by it.”

Presley has been her father’s custodiansince she was a girl. “I’ve been sittingin meetings from 15. I’ve learnt to thinkbusiness-wise, not too emotionally, how to keepthings authentic, to protect his image.” It was“a really confusing childhood”. Her parentsseparated when she was 5, after her mother hada relationship with her karate instructor. LisaMarie spent half her time at Graceland withher father and the rest with her mother inBeverly Hills. “There were no limitationswhatsoever at Graceland. I could stay up allnight, sleep all day, never take a bath, be anabsolute terror and tomboy. When I went tomy mother’s I was on a strict schedule.” Herparents’ separation wasn’t traumatic: “Theywere always very friendly with each other.They made decisions together.”

“I used music as my escape,” she says.“I would listen to my 45s: my father, SweetInspirations, Neil Diamond, Elton John. Myfather sang a lot of gospel around the house.I was very influenced by that.” Was the “Elvis”on stage an act? “There was nothing aboutthat persona that was put on,” Presley saysadamantly. “He’d just as much blow your mindwhen he walked into a room as on stage. Hispresence truly was awesome to witness.” Herfather would make her sing or play the piano infront of people. “If he was away, he would listenon the phone after a piano lesson to hear whatI had learnt.” Her favourite memory: “Upstairsin Graceland are two rooms, his and mine [offlimits to the public today]. He set up a chair,table and TV in my room; he was always sittingin there. I loved it. In the middle of the night,I would wake up and he would be sittingwatching TV because he wanted to be closeto me. I loved that. It was always nice to turnover and have a chat with him.”

How aware was she of his prescription drugdependency? “He was an incredible father. I feltvery loved, very protected. He had things thatmade him unhappy and the people around himwho weren’t good were a big part of that. Hecould be frustrated. I wasn’t aware of the drugsuntil towards the very end. He would appearslightly disconnected. I noticed he neededto take something. Tablets. All prescription,nothing was street. He didn’t drink or smokecigarettes. It was all pharmaceutical stuff.”

Did she inherit his addictive personality?“I am the kind of person who, when I lovesomething, I love it, all or nothing. ButI wouldn’t want to ever be caught or owned bysomething.” As a teenager, “I tried drugs. I wasnever addicted to anything. When I was 14, 15I tried everything, then just got bored with it. Iwanted greater purpose in life and got done

with it pretty quickly.” She still drinks. “I candrink with the best of them in pubs in London,though the English can out-drink me by a longshot.” She likes champagne and Guinness. “Ican’t keep up with my English friends. They’restill going the next day. I’d need an ambulance.”

Of Elvis’s death in 1977, when she was 9,from an apparent heart attack, she says, “Ofcourse it was devastating. I don’t know howelse to describe something like that.” Was herloss complicated by his fame? “I think thatwas probably the most confusing thing for me,because it delayed my grieving process. I had

to watch everyone else falling down andcrying and ambulances coming. I was reallyconfused because I was there, experiencingmy emotions, but it was worldwide. I waswatching the news, watching people outsidethe gates pass out and have to be taken away.I was stunned by what was going on aroundme.” His body reportedly contained a total of14 drugs, including 10 times the normal dosageof codeine and toxic levels of methaqualone(quaaludes). “It’s still confusing for me,”Presley says. “People were trying to shieldme and pull me away, but unsuccessfully.”

She feels “very close” to her father atGraceland. “I always want to have it; it willalways be mine and my family’s. It’s my legacyand it’s important to me how it is perceived andhandled.” She goes three or four times a year,has family dinners when the tourists have longdeparted, “ride the golf carts around. It’s like atime capsule. There’s a lot of interesting energyin that house, the life that was once there: ithaunts the walls and hallways. You can feel it.”

As she grew older she was “a treacherous,terrible teen. I was really confused, reallyrebellious.” Why treacherous? “I feel becauseI lost my father, who I was closest to, tooearly. My mum and I weren’t very close whenI was younger. She was young growing upwith me; it was hard, she was still trying tofind her way. I never liked anyone she dated.She didn’t know what to do with me and hersolution was to send me off a lot: boardingschools, Switzerland. I got the wrong messagefrom that.” How are she and Priscilla – famousfor playing Jenna Wade in Dallas – now? “Wemade friends in my thirties and now we’revery, very close. Certain elements in ourlives have kept us from getting close before,people we were seeing or dating.” Priscilla isappearing as the Wicked Queen in an Englishpantomime production of Snow White, “whichthe twins are really looking forward to”.

Presley “was always intimidated” bypursuing a career in music, “because it’svery daunting, the whole ‘daughter of Elvis’thing”. She felt she would be judged? “I amconstantly,” she says sharply. “People think it’seasier for me, but it’s a lot more difficult andthere’s a lot more pressure because they’reexpecting something out of you that youmay or may not have.” In a “different timeor place”, she feels, “when Carole King orLinda Ronstadt were doing their songs inthe Seventies, I could have been a lot moresuccessful on my own. But that whole ‘You’renot your father’ thing comes in and I can’twin. People are either really gunning for

‘I hopedmymarriagetoMichael Jacksonwould last, but toomanypeople got involved’

From top: Presley withMichael Jackson; in 2001with Nicolas Cage, whomshe divorced after four

months of marriage; withher husband, MichaelLockwood, at the BillboardMusic Awards this year

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The Times Magazine 51

you or pulling for you. It’s really extreme.”She says she “didn’t want to be controversial,

but certain things have been by default orconnection”. Does she mean her marriages?“They were just different phases of my life, butthey were highly public.” Her first marriage,which lasted from 1988-94, was to Scientologistmusician Danny Keough, and they married in aScientology church in LA. Why did it fail? “Wewere oil and water and it was never meant tobe.” Did she think it was for ever? “I did andwe had children [Riley, 23, and Benjamin, 20],which is always painful. But I was really young.I wanted to have children young. I felt like Ineeded to be responsible; they gave me purpose.I’m very maternal and like nurturing.”

Why did Presley marry Jackson in 1994?“Because I fell in love with him,” Presley saysbriskly. A lot of people found the union odd.“I don’t know why, because we were actuallysimilar in a lot of ways. We didn’t haveconventional lives. It made sense to me.” Hewas loveable? “Very.” Was she acting out somedesire to “save” Jackson in a way she couldn’ther father? “I’m sure there were things aboutMichael that reminded me of my dad. I don’tthink it’s unfair to say I’m still a sucker fora father figure. I think I always have been.There were probably things they shared thatintrigued me. Both were incredibly dynamicand iconic. My father set the precedent for meearly. There were some big shoes to fill.”

Was Jackson gay? “Absolutely not, not inany way shape or form. Not, not, not, not.” Shewas with him when the first child molestationcharges were made. “I always maintain it’snot anything I was around for and nothingI witnessed.” Did she want to have childrenwith him? “In the beginning, yes.” Theydivorced after two years in 1996. “I hopedit would be the one that would last, but thatwas a messy situation. Too many people gotinvolved between us.” She means entourages.“We both allowed that, which was a mistake.”Jackson’s death in 2009 “was really confusingand really, really painful. Our relationship wassomething I had parked away, pushed away. Itbrought it all back in a way I was not preparedfor, things I hadn’t dealt with. Some of thethings that we went through could never befixed or resolved. It was devastating.”

They last spoke in 2005. She spent timealone with his body after the private funeral:“Not an easy thing.” Now she has found “somepeace, it can quiet but never go away”. Sheremains close with matriarch Katherine,presently in reported dispute with her son’schildren. “They’re really sweet, incrediblepeople,” Presley says of the Jacksons. “I’vealways had a relationship with them. AllI can do is wish them the best.”

She and third husband Nicolas Cagedivorced after four months after marrying in2002, with Presley saying they should “never”

have married. “We’re still friendly, stuffhappens, things happen, life happens. He’shappy, I’m happy. We’re still friends.” She andLockwood, who she met while married toCage, will stay together for ever, “without adoubt. Having gone through so many thingsyou just want a partner who complementsyou, and is really confident with himself.”Lockwood “doesn’t get intimidated because ofmy situation”, says Presley. “He’s worked withreally strong females such as Carly Simon.We’re partners and best friends. Everythingflows really well. Maybe twice in nine yearswe’ve had a slight tiff. We haven’t spent anight apart: that’s also saying something.”

Having twins, “it’s double everything”, saysPresley. “Double happiness, double concern,double fits, double tempers. They’re reallystrong-willed. Parenting softens you. You seehow innocently we start out, then becomethe product of everything around us. It’s a fineline between not wanting them to get hurt, yetletting them experience things.” Her eldestdaughter, Riley, is becoming a well-knownactress; Ben wants to be a musician. Of thetwins, Finley will become a singer and Harperan actress, she predicts. They are in a school“not with a bunch of celebrity children as I wasfor a while. I didn’t do so great in that situation.I did better away from the limelight and cameinto it when I was ready. I want the little onesto make a conscious decision and for things tobe as normal as possible until then.” Does shewant more children? “I go back and forth.Right now I don’t think they’d love ourattention to be on anything else, even a cat.”

One new song, So Long, features the lyrics:“Churches, they don’t have a soul… Religionso corrupt and running lives/ Farewell, fairweathered friends/ I can’t say I’ll miss you inthe end.” Is this a repudiation of Scientology?Has she left the Church? “I write literally andmetaphorically,” Presley says, guard crankingup. “People are taking things and goingwherever they want with it. When I writea song it’s an open canvas.” I ask again if thissong is a rejection of Scientology. “I don’tdiscuss religion in any capacity,” she says. Isreligion important to her? “Belief in somethingis always very important.” Was Scientologyhelpful? “I am not discussing religion.” Isfaith important to her? “Absolutely. Belief isimportant.” Does she believe in God? “Again,that question is religious in nature.” Does she

believe in something “bigger”? “Yes. I believeit’s important people believe in what they wantto believe in to make their lives better.”

From that frying pan – she seems fairlyunrattled – we head into the fire of ageing.“I’m OK, because my husband is a lot olderthan me [Lockwood is 51],” Presley laughs.“But if my husband was a lot younger than meI’d be a nervous wreck all the time.” Elvis diedat 42: did she worry about dying young? “Ofcourse. I worry constantly, especially becauseI have little ones. I know what losing a parentis like and losing them worries me constantlytoo. It’s natural for a parent. You love so muchit leaves you vulnerable to a lot of pain.”

She was “nervous because my mother’sside of the family live very extended lives.My father’s side had health issues and diedyounger. I didn’t know where the cards fallfor me, but I thought I’d improve the odds soI stopped smoking when I was 38.” She hasn’thad plastic surgery, “but I was just looking atmy lines and thinking, ‘I’d love to get rid ofthose,’ inject something, but you don’t knowwhat would happen. I would never say never.It scares me to death, doing something withmy face. I’ve seen what happens.”

Presley will make “one, maybe two” morealbums. “I’m a music lover, that’s why I do it,not because I want to be like my father, assome have said. If I wanted that, I would havedone it earlier and recorded one of his songs.”Presley laughs. “People look at me and say,‘What are you trying to be?’ I do this becausepeople tell me I change their lives throughmusic, not because I desire the limelight, whichis not the most comfortable thing for me.”Ultimately, being Elvis’s daughter has been “ablessing” rather than burden, she says, if notresoundingly. “I’m not a moaner, not overlyoptimistic, not dismal. I feel more blessed thancursed. But there was no guide to navigatethrough this situation. I had to do it throughtrial and error and I made many errors.”

“We’d probably have had some goodconfrontations,” she says, smiling about howher father would have seen her life, “but I thinkhe would have understood where I’m comingfrom, because we’re similar. My mum iscontrolled, reserved and ‘English’. He was moreall or nothing, like me.” Maybe she’s becomingmore like Priscilla? Presley smiles. “I thinkI might be. I look at how I was and cringe.You get older and see being refined as easierto swallow than ‘rough around the edges’.”Her biggest pleasure in England has beengardening, she reveals, beaming. “I’m growingall these vegetables, potatoes and… what werethey? So incredible? Oh, radishes.” There’s theheadline scoop the National Enquirer missed:“Elvis’s Daughter: Proud of Her Radishes.” n

Storm & Grace is released on Mondayby Universal

‘At night I wouldwake upandmy father would besittingwatching TV to beclose tome. I loved that’