The news of Lisa Marie Presley’s death came unexpectedly. There were already reports that the only daughter of rock ‘n’ roll legend Elvis Presley was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital. However, this was not reported in the culture departments, but in the “Miscellaneous” section. Stop VIP news.
The news agencies list Lisa Marie Presley, who died at the age of 54, as a “singer and author”. However, she had her most famous pop appearance in the video clip for “You Are Not Alone” by her then short-term husband Michael Jackson.
The song from the 1990s phase of the “King of Pop” is not only one of Jackson’s slowest songs with a tempo of around 60 bpm, but also a rare navel gazing of the megastar who died in June 2009. The elaborate film work for “You Are Not Alone” was directed by Wayne Isham and dates from the summer of 1995. From today’s perspective, the fact that the convicted sex offender and singer R. Kelly takes on a co-voice is extremely delicate .
In the clip, protagonist Jackson is pressured into entering by a horde of paparazzi. A reference to the media pressure, which he had compensated for by rapidly consuming pills until his death.
Then the escape into a pastel-colored Camelot. Baz Luhrman couldn’t have thought of it better. A turgid temple scenario.
A mildly soft erotic scene ensues here as a scantily clad Jackson luxuriates with his then-wife, Lisa Marie Presley.
Furthermore, Michael Jackson plays this ballad as a lone artist – alone, alone – in an empty theater. So media alarm, dream worlds and loneliness. In some scenes, Jackson is pierced with arrows via film tricks, as in medieval saints or martyrs motifs. Lisa Maria Presley remains essentially an extra in Greco-Roman fantasy garb.
The Jackson marriage, which was sealed with a blitz ceremony in the Dominican Republic in 1994, was full of absurd performances. For example, the joint interview in which Presley defended her husband against allegations of child abuse made waves; at that time still mainly in the “leaf forest”.
The American magazine “US Today” recalls the strangely wooden statement that she let spread quite a while after this “off-the-cuff” wedding:
“My married name is Mrs. Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson. My marriage to Michael Jackson took place weeks ago in a private ceremony outside of the United States weeks ago. I am very much in love with Michael. I dedicate my life to being his wife. I understand and support him. We both look forward to starting a family.”
After that, the newlyweds were ubiquitous. In September 1994, they kissed during a theatrical stage performance at the MTV Video Music Awards.
The voles of the boulevards had already researched back then that things were less intimate behind the scenes. Michael Jackson was already “on the pill”. He took a fatal cocktail of various painkillers. This was partly due to second-degree burns he sustained in a fire on the set of a Pepsi commercial in the 1980s.
Before Christmas 1995 it was over between Jackson and Lisa Marie.
Divorce lawyers moved in, and their split was officially announced the following month. In August 1996 the case was over.
“They lasted longer than I thought,” said Hugo Francisco Alvarez Perez, who performed the short-lived couple’s wedding in the Caribbean, later in an interview with showbiz trade journal Entertainment Weekly. He added, a little cynically: “I gave them a year. You lasted a year and a half…”