First marriage (1994)

Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley (pictured here at Daytona International Speedway in 2005) on May 26, 1994.

In May 1994, Jackson married singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley. They had first met in 1975, during one of Jackson's family engagements at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, and were reconnected through a mutual friend in early 1993.[92] They stayed in contact every day over the telephone. As the child molestation accusations became public, Jackson became dependent on Presley for emotional support; she was concerned about his faltering health and addiction to drugs.[96] Presley explained, "I believed he didn't do anything wrong and that he was wrongly accused and yes I started falling for him. I wanted to save him. I felt that I could do it."[97] In a phone call he made to her, she described him as high, incoherent and delusional.[96] Shortly afterwards, she persuaded him to settle the allegations out of court and go into rehabilitation to recover.[96] Jackson proposed to Presley over the telephone towards the fall of 1993, saying, "If I asked you to marry me, would you do it?"[96] They married in the Dominican Republic in secrecy, denying it for nearly two months afterwards.[98] The marriage was, in her words, "a married couple's life ... that was sexually active".[99] At the time, the tabloid media speculated that the wedding was a ploy to prop up Jackson's public image.[98] Jackson and Presley divorced less than two years later, remaining friendly.[100]