LMP-BLENDER-INTRVW-PG1

"Blender" Magazine
pg. 84
BY MIRANDA SAWYER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TONY DURAN

Just as well, since Lisa Marie Presley has suffered her fair share of it. Now she's taken it all-the death of her father, the
fanatical public scrutiny, the failed marriages to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage--and poured it into her debut album. "I use
songs as weapons," she tells Blender.

Blender meets Presley at a rehearsal studio in North Hollywood. Small and scowly, with pink hair extensions, wrapped in black
cargo pants and a black top, she gives off a "don't mess" vibe as plain as if it were tattooed on her forehead. But she's no
princess, just wary and self-protective. Though she has plenty to be serious about, she's quick to laugh, especially at herself.
"Four words to describe myself?" she cracks. "Crazy-ass motherfucking shithead!"
Why would the daughter of rock & roll's most famous icon want to release an album and invite all this scrutiny?
I wanted to put something real out there to end 35 years of speculation. My hope is that I can break through my legacy and
earn my own credentials as an artist. Not for some stupid, superficial reason, like I want to be a pop icon, but because it would
make me feel more like I can hold my head up.
Pain. I use songs as weapons. I've written some really good, nasty songs about people I've been involved with, and then I
make sure they hear it somehow-"Better Beware" is like that. "Gone," too-I was pissed off.
Is "Gone" about Nicolas Cage?
[Raises eyebrows] Maybe, maybe not. I don't know.
How's your love life at the moment?
Quiet. It needs to stay quiet right now. I have something else to focus on, thank God. If I don't have something to keep me
busy, I get into all kinds of trouble.
Do you ever think that maybe you got married too young?
No, but I did live my life in reverse. [Presley married fellow Scientologist Danny Keough when she was 20.] All the friends I had
back then were crazy. Now they're married with kids, and I've turned back into a fucking 12-year-old. So that's funny. I got
married early and had two kids and lived very stably for six years and then went fucking crazy.
Like going from Danny Keough to Michael Jackson!
You know, nobody knows him. He's like the Wizard of Oz, working this whole machine about himself. And he doesn't let a lot of
people see who he really is, but he let me see, and he was very normal. I felt like I was talking to someone I knew, like a
brother. OK, maybe we shouldn't have gotten married, but we were both raised a little differently and were in situations that
normal people would not be in, so we had a connection.
I don't see why people can't see that. They kept saying, "She wants a singing career, she wants this, she wants that," and I'm
like, "Wait a minute: I have never once, of my own free will, been in the spotlight." I got his stigma. I was caught in his loop.
We're not in contact now.
Do you now think "Was I crazy?"
Yeah, of course. I don't relate anymore to the person I was at that time. I was really in Michael's world-I went into his head, into
his land, and it took me years to get out of it. It's quite a web you go into. Being the small young bug I was.
In your position, it must be a little hard to trust people. Who are your friends?
People I've known since I was 16. My children are my best friends, but I have a crew of about six people who are always there
for me. I don't like clubs: Even though I have a pretty strong "stay back!" thing about me, drunk people break through-hanging
all over me and saying stupid stuff. So I like to go to friends' houses, or they come to mine. We sit around the fire and laugh
and be stupid. Play music. Drink red wine.
What are your favourite Elvis Presley records and films?
I like Jailhouse Rock and Love Me Tender, and black-and-white films. With music, I tend more toward the '70s stuff, because I
was at the shows for those, so they bring back memories.
Have you ever seen a good Elvis impersonator?
I've never actually seen one live-I've seen them on TV. I bumped into one once in Las Vegas. He was in the lobby. There was
a Marilyn Monroe look-alike and Elvis look-alike, and he noticed me and recognized me like that [snaps fingers], I turned red
and started running.
You went through something of a rebellious adolescent stage...
After my father died, I stayed relatively sane for two years, although I did lose my noodle at summer camp right after my dad's
death. But when I hit 12, 13, that was it. I hated my momm's boyfriend, and there was a lot of control over me. I didn't like that,
so I rebelled.
I was threatening to emancipate. To be honest, I was just an I-don't-give-a-fuck-type teenager: the self-loathing, the angst, the
hatred, the misery. It's normal. I was hanging out with people who started doing drugs, and I did too. Sometimes I liked
cocaine; sometimes I liked painkillers. I smoked pot all the time. I'd do all of it and drink at the same time.
It was crazy. But I was never addicted to anything at all. It was just a choice I made, and then I stopped-when I was 17. And
I've never done a drug recreationally since.
Why did you stop?
I had very deep, involved questions about life, people, the mind, sanity, insanity: What the fuck am I doing here? kinds of
questions. They bugged me to the point where I couldn't sleep for three days.
That's where Scientology came in. When I was out of control, my mom kicked me out of the house. I went to live in the
[Scientology] castle on Sunset and Franklin [in Los Angeles]-people from the church would take care of me and try to get both
of us to calm the fuck down.
Do you understand your mother, Priscilla, more now that you have kids of your own?
My kids are so much more together than I ever was. They're my baby-sitters! It's funny having kids when you're young,
because you grow up with them. There's something to be said for having them when you're young, and then having them
again when you're 35 or 40 and have been through it all. I want to have one or two more.
What characteristics have you inherited from your mother?
Her strength. She's very strong. I admire her business sense-I'm not a numb-nuts, but I haven't inherited it completely. I'm a
monkey, an Aquarius, an artist. I'm more head-in-the-clouds. She's on it.
What about your dad?
If you ask my family in Memphis, they'll tell you "Every one of his characteristics," but I'll say sense of humor and temper. He
didn't have a quick temper, but when he was angry, he was ang-ry. If you betrayed him or he was hurt by someone, oh, God,
the roof would blow off the house. And that's how I get. I want asses served to me on a platter for lunch when I'm angry.
When was the last time you were like that?
When Nic filed for divorce.
Weren't you expecting it?
No. It was a stupid fight-he threatened to, and then, you know, he did it. It was a temper tantrum that went global. We were
just two wild orchids, two pirates. We were breaking up and getting back together when we weren't married, but you can't do
that when you're actually married. It's too big, and it affects too many people.
Marriage can either amplify prior problems or it can solve everything. We were hoping it was going to be the latter, but it didn't
work out that way. It was naive and in the moment and optimistic. Now we're fine-he's redeeming himself in my book. I still
care about him, and we still talk.
Do you ever worry about death?
All the time. I'm a hypochondriac. Yesterday it was brain damage from the vodka the night before. Today, heart attack-my
arm and chest started hurting at the same time.
When you think of your father, what do you think of?
That he could do no wrong in my eyes. He was a larger-than-life figure to me, someone I admired in every way. I was a
daddy's girl.
There's a saying that the true test of a human is his ability to handle power. I think it's true. You could give a perfectly fine
person a lot of power and watch him be a complete asshole, or see somebody struggle with it and try to figure it out. He was in
a situation that would never be easy for anyone, and he didn't understand why it was all happening to him.
People in that situation destroy themselves, because they don't know what to do with the admiration. Jim Morrison, Janis
Joplin-they overdo it, over-indulge, because there's nothing else to compensate. I understand all that. [BLENDER]