Michael Jackson told Lisa Marie that Debbie Rowe ‘would give him kids’ in ultimatum
Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie reached a crossroads in their marriage when it came to starting a family with the pop star saying he would go elsewhere if she didn’t cede to his demands
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Michael Jackson was so keen to start a family that he issued an ultimatum to his wife Lisa Marie, when she didn’t express the same eagerness.
Speaking in an interview with Oprah Winfrey from 2010, which has resurfaced online, Lisa Marie recalls how the pop singer tried to harangue her into having children and told her that Debbie Rowe ‘would do it’ if she didn’t.
Speaking about that issue in her marriage, Lisa Marie insisted: “Michael wasn’t a bad person, he didn’t know any better. I took it very personally, I felt I was disposable.”
Lisa Marie pointed to the fact that Michael had been famous from an early age and was used to getting his own way, so was a bit miffed when she wasn’t on the same page with starting a family.
He told Lisa Marie that there would always be someone else who would and it wasn’t long after that, Lisa Marie filed for divorce.
Their romance had been a whirlwind with the couple announcing their engagement and marriage in the same month, April 1994.
They both insisted that the marriage had sexual chemistry but there were many that didn’t buy into the validity of their relationship.
Lisa Marie, who is the daughter of Elvis Presley, had left her husband, Riley Keough, and two small children – four-year-old Riley and baby Ben – so that she could hook up with Michael.
Lisa Marie recalled: “I was trying to process what I had done. I could never feel good about it. How could I have done that to someone? And I had these two little ones…”
Meanwhile, Michael had met Debbie Rowe, who was working for dermatologist Arnold Klein, who was treating Michael for the skin pigmentation condition vitiligo.
Lisa Marie wanted to buy some more time on committing to a family with Michael but knew that time was running out.
She said: “I know she (Rowe) was there the whole time telling him she would do it.
“He would tell me, ‘If you’re not gonna do it, Debbie said she’ll do it.’
“And we would get into arguments because that wasn’t how to handle it. But that’s how he knew how to handle it: ‘If you’re not going to do it, this person will. Are you going to do it or not?'”
Lisa Marie said that she was never against having children with the singer but knew there was more to it than just being the mother to his child.
She continued: “I just wanted to make sure. I was looking into the future and I was thinking, ‘I don’t ever want to get into a custody battle with him. I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to go head to head with him so I need to make sure that everything around is good.’
“I had children and I knew bringing children into certain circumstances you have to make sure that everything is safe and secure and ok.
“And I wanted too make sure he and I were really, really united because we were going to be up against so much.”
It was an obstacle that the couple would never overcome, with their marriage deteriorating and their arguments escalating.
Lisa Marie claimed that Michael was surrounded by “vampires” who wanted to use him for their own good.
In January 1996, Lisa Marie filed for divorce, bringing to an end their 18 months together.
Michael wasted no time in making his dream of having a family come true, announcing that Debbie was pregnant in October that year.
They married in November and in February 1997, Prince Michael was born.
Lisa Marie has said since that she believes that the pregnancy was a jab at her from Michael.
She said: “I knew it was a bit of a retaliatory act on his part, because I didn’t have a baby.”
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