03 February 2023 , 15:21
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Lisa-Marie Presley and Michael Jackson may seem like an unlikely couple - and even more unexpected is that Donald Trump had a part to play in their marriage.
The pair first met when Jackson 5 fan Lisa Marie was just seven-years-old, as dad Elvis took her backstage to meet the 16-year-old Michael.
Lisa and Michael are said to have "stayed in touch" after their first meeting, but fully rekindled their friendship in 1992 after meeting again in Los Angeles.
They began to speak on the phone - and it's during one of these calls where Michael reportedly proposed to Elvis' daughter, despite the fact she was married to rock and roll guitarist Danny Keough.
Lisa Marie filed a quickie divorce and just 20 days later eloped with the King of Pop in the Dominican Republic in 1994, but Trump claims they spent some time with him on holiday before they tied the knot.
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Lisa and Michael Jackson married in 1994 after starting an 'adult friendship' two years earlier (AFP via Getty Images)Towards the end of 1993, the couple reportedly stayed at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida - and it's possible Jackson proposed shortly afterwards.
Trump claimed they had separate bedrooms but were "holding hands and talking until the wee hours".
They also went back to Mar-a-Lago as part of their honeymoon - and Trump says they spent seven night locked away in a luxury apartment.
While being interviewed at the CNN Republican town hall in South Carolina in Feb 2016, Trump said: "I knew Michael Jackson very well. He lived in Trump Tower for a long period of time and would go down to Mar-a-Lago.
"He actually got married – you know, to Lisa Marie Presley – and had a big deal at Mar-a-Lago.
"He was up there one week with her, and he never came down, so I don’t know what was going on, but they got along.
"People say they didn't get along but let me tell you they were there for a week and didn’t come down at all."
Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson hug Mickey and Minnie Mouse (Sipa/REX/Shutterstock)The couple also spent some time at Trump Tower in the summer of 1994, which is where Jackson had been living.
A source told the New York Post in 1994: "They hold hands, kiss and cuddle, stare into each other's eyes and look out at the stars together."
Despite their PDA, and their many public appearance, speculation turned to whether they were having sex or not.
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Quizzed during an awkward 1995 interview with Diane Sawyer on the subject, she said: "Do we have sex?" Then both she and Michael exclaimed: "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
Just a month later, Michael appeared to attempt to write home this point with a raunchy music video for You Are Not Alone, which showed him and Lisa writhing on the floor in the nude in a desert temple.
Their romance only lasted a year and the couple separated in December 1995, with Lisa filing for divorce a month later and citing "irreconcilable differences".
Some years later, Lisa named her marriage to Michael as the "biggest mistake of her life".
Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson at the 11th annual MTV Video Music Awards (Bebeto Matthews/AP/REX/Shutterstock)Speaking in a Marie Claire interview, she said: "My biggest mistake? Let’s see. How can I word this? Um. Well. Leaving my first marriage, for the person that I left it for — that was probably the biggest mistake of my life."
The pair remained friends, with the couple attempting to reconcile through the late 90s.
Trump was particularly close with Jackson - and the singer would come over and play video games as he was a neighbour to the family.
In his book Triggered: How The Left Thrives On Hate And Wants To Silence Us, Trump Jr said: "One day in Eric's [Trump, Donald's middle son] room, my father saw how much Michael enjoyed playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with us on Nintendo and told him he could take the game home.
"My game! To this day, Eric says it was his game because it was in his room, but I know whose game it was.
"I'd worked a summer job to pay for it! And here was Michael Jackson, probably a billionaire at this point, and he took it!”
Michael, as Donald Jr explains, would come over and play video games as he was a neighbour to the Trump family in New York.
Trump spoke about his time with Jackson (Andrew Harnik/AP/REX/Shutterstock)Trump also spoke of how he knew "the real story" of Jackson, claiming the singer died after he lost all self-esteem due to "bad, bad, bad surgery".
He added: "Michael Jackson was actually a very good friend of mine.
"You know, when he died people would come on and talk about him – people who didn't know him very well."
Trump continued: "Because very few people got to know Michael Jackson but he was an unbelievably talented guy and he lost his confidence.
"He lost all his confidence. Honestly because of bad, bad, bad surgery. He had people that did numbers on him that was just unbelievable.
"And when you lose your confidence in something you can even lose your talent."