Lisa Marie Presley looked uneasy when she was asked one question about ex Michael Jackson: "Why did..."
Along with his sleek moves and angelic voice, Michael Jackson's personal life also garnered much attention, and his short-lived marriage to Lisa Marie Presley certainly proves the point. The King of Pop and Elvis Presley's daughter shocked the world when they married in 1994. However, trouble in paradise soon emerged, and the couple called it quits just two years later. Despite this, their short-lived union became one of the most publicized relationships of all time, with Presley often facing difficult questions about their marriage.
In a 2003 interview, television broadcast journalist Diane Sawyer faced criticism for grilling Presley about her brief marriage to Jackson, as per UNILAD. With their short-lived union in focus, Sawyer directly asked, "Why did you marry Michael Jackson? What were you doing?" Presley, visibly uncomfortable with both the question and Sawyer's tone, hesitated before responding, "Urm, I haven't thought much about this and what I was going to say. I just figured [the answer] would fly out of my mouth."
During the interview, Sawyer questioned whether Presley had married Jackson to defy her mother, Priscilla Presley. Lisa admitted, "Her reaction to my even dating him was, like, you know, typical mother-daughter like, 'Oh, you don’t like him? Good, he's going to be my husband.'" Sawyer even referenced a past interview with Jackson and Presley, stating that she didn’t believe them when they claimed to live together. Addressing speculation about their marriage, Presley insisted they lived together, saying, "If he was in town, he was at my house." When Sawyer asked about the romantic aspect, Presley confirmed, "Yes, it was normal. I wasn't going to get married if it wasn't."
Notably, Jackson and Presley, after a year of marriage, on June 14, 1996, appeared in a major interview on Prime Time Live with Sawyer. The discussion centered on their marriage, addressing speculation about whether it was a publicity stunt and if they had consummated the relationship, as per The Express. The interview also featured a clip of their wedding in the Dominican Republic. Presley was asked about the rumors of a 'Scientologist plot' suggesting she had married Jackson to bring him and his money into her church.
She firmly denied the claim, stating, "It’s c**p. It’s ridiculous. It’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I'm not going to marry anyone for any reason other than that I have fallen in love with them. They can eat if they want to think anything different." She was then asked what she loved most about her then-husband, Jackson. She responded, "What do I love most about him? Everything. He is amazing. I respect him, I admire him, and I'm in love with him. And no, we don't sleep in separate bedrooms; thank you very much."
Sawyer then pressed the couple, saying there was one question fans wanted to ask more than any other. Presley quickly cut in with, "Do we have s*x?" During the live interview, Jackson and Presley watched clips of fans questioning whether their relationship was intimate. Frustrated, Presley shouted, "Yes, yes, yes!" She dismissed speculation about a marriage of convenience, adding, "Why wouldn’t we have a lot in common?" referring to their shared experiences of childhood fame.