Larry King live
6May 2003
KING: Now you have a baby. How good a father was he?
PRISCILLA PRESLEY: Well, I was the disciplinarian. I mean, he wouldn’t…
KING: He spoiled her.
PRISCILLA PRESLEY: He spoiled her, yes. He loved children and he definitely spoiled her and he left the discipline to me. I was the bad guy. So, you know, Lisa of course always wanted to be with him because she didn’t get any discipline with him. He would either stay up until 3:00 in the morning, you know, not bathed, not brush her teeth and I was the one on the telephone going, did you brush your teeth?
KING: How did you handle when she got all that attention for being married to Michael Jackson? How did you as the mother handle that?
PRISCILLA PRESLEY: Concern. Concern. I think — I think any mother would be concerned, you know. I — you know, obviously, If my daughter is happy, you know, and then I don’t have any problem. But she’s very strong willed.
KING: Wonder where she got that from.
PRISCILLA PRESLEY: I don’t know.
KING: Was she happy for a time?
PRISCILLA PRESLEY: I think so. I think so.
KING: All right, we have to ask it. How do you explain the Michael Jackson thing?
LISA: You know I’m going to explain this over and over and over…
KING: Yes, but I haven’t heard it.
LISA: You haven’t heard it? God, it wasn’t — it was just.
KING: How’d you explain it to little Larry?
LISA: OK. I just met someone who — because we were born, raised in different situations, different upbringings, there was a connection, on that front. You know?
KING: Superstars, superstars.
LISA: Yes, this fishbowl life, oddities, different circumstances thing. I think that I was trying to, at the time, obviously the marriage to somebody who wasn’t you know — what’s the word- – famous enough or enough on their own. It wasn’t really working out like that.
KING: In other words, he wasn’t going to be bothered that you were a Presley.
LISA: Right. I kind of — right — so in my mind at the time I’m thinking I’ll marry somebody who’s even bigger or as big or whatever than I am and I can actually feel like a wife, feel like somebody who which I really liked feeling to be honest with you. I liked the idea that I could be next to someone and they are getting all the attention and I was fine with that. You know? It felt more natural, like a female type of a natural.
KING: Very understandable.
LISA: So I thought that would be a good thing now because of that and things seemed relatively normal to begin with.
KING: Why didn’t it work?
LISA: A lot of reasons but I — you know it was just — it was a messy — you know it’s never — when you have that situation then you have – its drawbacks which is, you know, entourages of people. I didn’t like the attention, particularly. I really did sort of thrive in being finally a woman who could take care of someone and have that person be getting all the attention. I liked that whole idea. But then that had it’s own things connected with it, you know?
KING: So you were smart enough to know that once that took place, you were going to be in the tabloids every week.
LISA: I kind of — yes , I wasn’t trying to live my life via some of the damn tabloids, pardon my French, but I just kind of did what I wanted to do, but I thought I…
KING: Was he good to your kids?
LISA: Yes, he was always good to my kids.
KING: Are you friendly now?
LISA: Don’t talk to him right now. But, you know, it’s kind of something I walked away from a long time ago, not something I try to keep in my life any more.
KING: Is his life going to straighten out, do you think?
LISA: I have no idea.
KING: Because he seems to always have little problems that develop around like there’s a little cloud that follows him around with all that talent.
LISA: It’s true. I don’t know. You know, it’s kind of — I really can’t even predict it any more. I can’t keep up with it either. It’s always changing. I can’t keep up.
KING: Do you think he’s a good father to his kids?
LISA: I’m sure. I met — I only got a chance to meet his son and he was adorable and he was great with him. But when I did have — it was very brief; it was a long time ago, it was fine.
KING: Was he interested in your father’s music, by the way?
LISA: I — you know — he didn’t go out of his way to tell me that but I heard from others and I kind of got the idea that he was.
No Comments Yet
No comments yet.
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
