Prime Time Live with Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson

DS: I guess , let me ask this, and I'm trying to think how to phrase it, though. I can hear out in the country people saying - and you've been cleared of all the charges, I want to make that clear. People saying, look here is a man who is surrounded by...things that children love. Here is a man who spends an inordinate amount of time, with these young boys.

Michael: That's right.

DS: What is a thirty-six year old man doing, sleeping with a twelve year old boy? Or a series of them?

Michael: Right. OK, when you say boys, it's not just boys, and I've never invited just boys to come in my room. C'mon, that's just ridiculous. And that's a ridiculous question. But since people want to hear it...you know, the answer, I'll be happy to answer it. I have never invited anyone into my bed, ever. Children love me, I love them. They follow me, they want to be with me. But...anybody can come in my bed, a child can come in my bed if they want.

Lisa Marie: I can say...I can, I can say...sorry. I've seen this, I've seen it a lot. I've seen kids. I've seen him with children in the last year. I've seen it enough to where I can see how that can happen. It's, you know...I understand...

DS: Isn't part of being an adult...and you have a two year old child...two year old boy.

Michael: [to Lisa Marie] Didn't you want to finish?

Lisa Marie: Yeah. Lemme just, lemme just...sorry.

DS: Okay.

Lisa Marie: I, I just wanted to say I've seen these children. They don't let him go to the bathroom...without...running in there with him. And they won't let him out of their sight. So when he jumps in the bed, I'm even out. You know, they, they jump in the bed with him.

DS: But isn't part of being an adult...and loving children, keeping children from ambiguous...situations? And again we're talking about over an intense period of time here. Would you, let your son when he grows up, and is twelve years old, do that?

Lisa Marie: You know what, if I didn't know Michael, no way. But I happen to know who he is, and what he is. And that makes it... you know. I know that he's not, you know...I know that he's not like that, and I know he has a thing for children, and I...go ahead, sorry.

DS: I just want to...is it over? Are you gonna make sure it doesn't happen again? I think, this is really the key thing people wanna know.

Michael: Is what over?

DS: That there are not going to be more of these sleep-overs, in which people have to wonder.

Michael: Nobody wonders when kids sleep over at my house. Nobody wonders.

DS: But are they over? Are you...are you gonna watch out for it now?

Michael: Watch out for what?

DS: Just for the sake of the children and for everything you've been through.

Michael: No! 'Cause, it's all...it's all moral and it's all pure. I don't even think that way, it's not what's in my heart...

DS: So you'll, you'll do it again?

Michael: ...I would never ever...Do what again?

DS: I mean, you'll have a child sleeping over.

Michael: Of course! If they want.

Lisa Marie: He has...

Michael: It's on the level of purity and love, and just innocence. Complete innocence. If you're talking about sex then that's a nut. That's not me! Go to the guy down the street 'cause it's not Michael Jackson. It's not what I'm interested in.

DS: OK, we're gonna take a break now. When we come back, Elizabeth Taylor...talked to us a little bit about what she saw when she went over and talked to you, in the middle of this and helped you get treatment for addiction to painkillers.

Michael: Oh, wow, Elizabeth is on the show!

DS: When we come back.

[after commercial break]

DS: As we said, Elizabeth Taylor is going to talk a little bit about when she came to see you in the middle of this, what she called agony. And one of the things she was so..., I think she was so angry about with us, was that she said people always talk about one side of a person, they never give them credit for their accomplishments

Michael: That's right.

DS: ...particularly, what they give to children and the money you give to children, that's how it starts.

[Showing taped interview with Elizabeth Taylor]

Elizabeth Taylor: When he's on tour...he goes to hospitals, without the press following him. Without anyone knowing. He'll get up in a disguise and do it. Take his disguise off when he's there, and kids know, Wow, it's Michael Jackson!

DS: Was there no point at which you said to yourself...reading everything everybody had been reading...maybe this is true, maybe I completely didn't understand who he was.

Taylor: No way. Absolutely not.

DS: Never?

Taylor: Never. I know Michael's heart. I know his mind and his soul. I'm not that insensitive. Especially to him, or people I love.

DS: How did you decide to go to Singapore?

Taylor: He was my friend...he was alone. He was totally alone. And he just...he needed help. Nothing in the world could have hurt him more. If it had been calculated, if they'd planned an assassination, they couldn't have done it any better. It almost...it almost broke his heart.

DS [voice-over]: She said she recognised a friend turning to painkillers for escape.

Taylor: He wasn't aware of what was happening, he was dulling his pain. But, it really frightened me because I have been there. And I know how easy it is to get there when you're in mental or physical pain.

DS: And he knew right away that he had to deal with it, to...

Taylor: Not right away, not right away, but he knew.

[back to interview with Michael and Lisa Marie]

DS: There were some reports during this period, Michael, that it was such agony for you that you were actually suicidal. Is that true?

Michael: I was never suicidal. I love life too much to ever be suicidal. I'm resiliant. I have rhinocerous skin. Never, ever suicidal.

DS: Did it leave you, though...

Michael: Heartbroken *touching his heart*, but not suicidal.

DS: Did it leave you changed, completely? I, I've talked to you a little bit about what you're thinking about where you want to live...in the world. Did it change your view about living here? Are you thinking about living someplace else?

Michael: I don't care to stay in America anymore, no. I...I don't care. I will always have Neverland, you know. 'Cause I...I have Neverland. I don't like...I'm very sensitive to the smog. You know, so I can't have the smog. And ah, I would like to go abroad. Matter of fact, I am.

DS: You are?

Michael: Yes.

DS: Where?

Michael: Ooh, I haven't decided the exact place yet. Probably South Africa, maybe.

DS: To live permanently?

Michael: Maybe, aah, Switzerland.

DS: Lisa, are you in favour of it?

Lisa Marie: Can we just...change...wait, just go into the fact that we don't live in separate houses for...to start this with.

Michael: Yeah, we don't live in separate...this is just a dream.

Lisa Marie: It's ridiculous. Wherever the camera is. Anyway, um...sorry, heh.

Michael: No. Jump in any time.

Lisa Marie: What? How do I feel about the overseas thing? I think that its a nice place to visit, yes. I would like to have a...a house over there.

DS: Hmmm.

Lisa Marie: We would be completely and utterly harrassed beyond belief...but

Michael: *laughs*

DS: Before we move away from the last two years, we told you, because we want to, that we are going to show, what is really your...comment...of those two years. And ah...is a video you have done with your sister Janet, called Scream. And in it you have some words, for middle-aged people who can't follow these words. Ahh, the words you'll hear will be about confusion, bashing, victimising, "stop pressuring me", he says, "makes me want to scream." The last two years.

[entire Scream video is shown]

DS:We have some...wedding video, of the two of you. And I'm gonna let you tell us a little bit about what we're seeing here...if our director Roger Goodman wants to roll it in, we will take you there, a years ago. Right?

Lisa Marie: Yes.

DS: Just about exactly.

[Wedding video is shown]

Lisa Marie: I look like an idiot, I can tell you that.

Michael: You don't look like an idiot, you look more like a, ah...no.

Lisa Marie: *laughs* Do you want me to tell you...

DS: Yes.

Lisa Marie: ...while we're watching it?

DS: Tell us.

Lisa Marie: While we're watching.

DS: Tell us. We're watching here live.

[video segment >>

Michael: [To MJ] I do.

Lisa Marie: [To MJ] What?

Michael: [To MJ] I do.

Lisa Marie: [To MJ] Hah.

<< ]

Lisa Marie: In the middle he [judge] asks for his [Michael's] autograph.

Lisa Marie: Right, now we're out of time.

Michael: [To MJ] How do I look?

Lisa Marie: [To MJ] Great.

Michael: [To LM] You sure?

Lisa Marie: [To MJ] Yeah.

DS: So...I know, that you, Lisa Marie, have wanted to talk about this. There are a lot of doubters about this marriage. I've heard that it's a Scientology plan, you are a member of the Church of Scientology, which...is said to influence its members greatly, and that the husband you divorced was a Scientologist, and he's still very much in your life and this is all part of a calculation to get...Michael, and his money into the church.

Michael: Oooh, gee...

Lisa Marie: It's crap. I'm sorry...it, it's like ridiculous. It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I'm not...um.. First of all, you can't get influenced by anything...like that...and, and under a term of a marriage... I'm not gonna marry somebody for any reason other than the fact that I've fallen in love with them, period. Period. And they can eat it, if they wanna think any differently...

Michael: *laughs out loud*

DS: To put it succinctly.

Lisa Marie: Yeah.

DS: What is it you love the most about him?

Lisa Marie: Ooh, what do I love the most about him? Everything. He's amazing. I really admire him. I respect him. I admire him. I'm in love with him. And no, we don't sleep in separate bedrooms, thank you very much. And um...I love everything about him.

DS: To finish up on that, though...are you a Scientologist? Are...

Michael: No.

DS: Plan to become one?

Michael: I believe in spirituality and I believe in a higher source, such as God. But I'm not a Scientologist. I read everything, I like to read, I love to study.

DS: You said you don't sleep in separate bedrooms, and I'm going to confess, okay... this is live TV and I'm copping out right here, because I didn't spend my life as a serious journalist to ask these kinds of questions. But I'm not oblivious to the fact that your fans ...had one question they most wanted to ask of you.

Lisa Marie: Do we have sex?

DS: We have...

Michael: *giggles* ..ssshh..she didn't ask!!

Lisa Marie: *laughs*

Michael: She didn't ask.

Lisa Marie: OK, I won't ask.

DS: Okay.

Michael: We don't know what it was gonna be.

Lisa Marie: Is that what you were gonna ask?

DS: Let's play just a minute or two.

Lisa Marie: Sorry.

DS: Let's play one or two.

[videotaped interterviews with fans.]

fan 1 : We wanna know, if you've done 'the thing'?

fan 2 : Michael, I know this is an intimate question, but are you having sex, together, with Lisa Marie?

fan 3 : Do you guys really love each other or are you just doing this to satisfy the media?

fan 4 : Are you guys intimate?

DS: Again...

Michael: I can't believe it.

Lisa Marie: Wow!

DS: But this is about...the scepticism.

Lisa Marie: Yes. Yes! Yes.

DS: And...we have read in the papers, that you, are...expecting a child.

Lisa Marie: We won't be expecting a child, no. When...I'm not gonna...

Michael: We're not gonna say when, or..

Lisa Marie: It's personal.

Michael: It's in the hands of the heavens.

DS: But not yet?

Lisa Marie: Did we marry out of convenience? That's really interesting, that's really interesting to me.

Michael: It's ridiculous.

DS: Why?

Lisa Marie: Well, why wouldn't we have a lot in common? That's the question. Why? Why not?

Michael: Like we're faking this?

Lisa Marie: Like...no.

Michael: The most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

Lisa Marie: But you can't live with somebody day to day. We're together all the time, first of all. Second thing, how can you fake that 24 hours a day with somebody? Sleeping with somebody. Waking up with somebody. Having the...

Michael: It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Lisa Marie: He's running around the house. I'm running around the house. You were in our house. We have a normal house, we have a nanny, we have a maid. And...we walk around, and he's either in the studio or I'm in the kitchen. We're running around like normal - I know its hard to believe - people.

DS: You go shopping together...you...

Lisa Marie: We go shopping. We go out to dinner. We argue...sometimes.

Michael: [to Lisa Marie] About what, may I say?

Lisa Marie: *laughs, looks at Michael*

DS: We also heard a report that maybe you were planning to adopt the children.

Michael: Oh, I would love to adopt children. I think that's something I've always wanted to do. But children of all races: Arab children, Jewish children, black children, all races.

DS: But, Lisa's children?

Michael: I love Lisa's children. Its been a mission...

DS: But are you going to adopt...

Michael: Pardon?

DS: To adopt them, though?

Michael: Oh, I love her children, they're sweet.

DS: But to adopt? No?

Michael: Of course.

Lisa Marie: But if they have a biological father, and he's the...he's their...

Michael: I think they love me very much; I love them.

Lisa Marie: They do.

Michael: We have a lot of fun.

Lisa Marie: But I've never heard of that before, a person, someone adopting someone's children, while they're in a relationship with that person.

DS: We're going to take a break for a minute, and come back with more questions.

[commercial break]

DS: We're going to show you a film now, created by Michael Jackson. And, it is causing a furor...in some movie theaters around this country. They say among other things that, it is clearly modeled, after Triumph of The Will. They mean, Rieffenschtal. A Nazi film with a Nazi meaning to it.

Michael: It's not true. None of that's true. None of those things are true.

DS: Did you watch that film before you did it?

Michael: I watch everything, I love movies, I love documentaries. It had nothing to do with that at all.

DS: But there are people who keep saying, this is...they look at it and say this is...

Michael: Absolutely not.

DS: You were...

Michael: It has nothing to do with politics, or communism, or fascism at all...

DS: Well, the critics have said that, its the most...body vein, glorious, self-deification a pop singer ever undertook with a straight face.

Michael: Good! That's what I wanted.

DS: For the controversy?

Michael: Yeah! They fell into my trap.

DS: But the people who say that

Michael: I wanted everybody's attention.

DS: But for the people who say those symbols, matter...

Michael: No. The symbols...no..

DS: The suffering...

Michael: No. The symbol has nothing to do with that. It's not political. It's not Fascist. It's not dogma. It's not...you know, ideology and all of this stuff. It's pure, simple love. You don't see any tanks, you don't see any cannons. It's about love. It's people coming together...

DS: About love. We're gonna let everybody watch a bit of it.

Michael: Yeah, but its art. It is art!

DS: OK.

Michael: We had a director, we get him to create art.

DS: The short answer, coming up...here it comes.

[part of the HIStory trailer is shown]

DS: Well, as we said, we're gonna clearly agree to disagree maybe, on what this means to ...some people watching it. There's been another issue raised. In a song you say, "Jew me, sue me". And some people are saying that that is anti-Semitic.

Michael: It's not anti-Semitic. Because, I'm not a racist person. I could never be a racist. I love all races of people - from Arabs, to Jewish people, like I said before, to blacks. But when I say, "Jew me, sue me, everybody do me, kick me, kike me, don't you black or white me" I'm talking about myself as the victim, you know. My accountants and lawyers are Jewish. My three best friends are Jewish - David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Stephen Spielberg, Mike Milkin. These are friends of mine. They're all Jewish. So how does that make sense? I was raised in a Jewish community.

DS: I wanna ask you both about something 'cause it was the second most asked question by people on the street. And I know...I know its a sensitive issue for you, and you talked with Oprah about it. But, somehow, people still...are not, they don't feel they've heard everything about the whiteness of your skin, and that its not somehow a choice on your part, along with the make-up...to be. Is it to be...neither black, or white...neither...to look completely male, to be in the androgynous zone? I, I think they wanna know...it is a decision, on your part in some way, the way you look. Where does it come from?

Michael: I think it creates itself...it's nature.

Lisa Marie: He...he's an artist. He has every right...

Michael: I'm an artist, I'm a performer.

Lisa Marie: And he is constantly re-modifying something or changing it or reconstructing it or...you know, working on some imperfection that he thinks needs to be worked on. If he sees something he doesn't like, he changes it! Period. He re-sculpted himself, he's an artist.

Michael: And I wanna put a red dot right there one day [pointing to his forehead], and two eyes right here.

DS: But...but, do you wish you were...the color you were, again?

Michael: Do I wish I was the color?

DS: Black color.

Michael: You have to ask nature that. I loved...I love black, I love black.

DS: But do you wish you were that way

Michael: I envy her *points to Lisa Marie*, 'cause she can tan and I can't.

DS: One more question I wanna make sure I ask. Are you going to sing together?

Lisa Marie: No.

DS: The two of you.

Michael: *sings to LM* I would love to sing with you, would you like to sing with me?

Lisa Marie: *shakes her head* Mm, mmm.

DS: You don't sing?

Lisa Marie: I don't sing. I did sing, if I wanted it. I mean, I'm not gonna marry someone for a recording career, just want to clear that up as well. Um

[Michael makes Rabbit's ears behind Lisa Marie's head]

Michael: What? Heh heh.

[Lisa Marie pinches him]

Michael: Stop! *giggles*

Lisa Marie: Um, grrr

DS: I'm gonna let the two of you dupe this out over here. We'll take a break, and we'll come back.

[commercial break]

DS: And as our hour ends, I'd like to just ask each of you for a one sentence answer; time's so short. Where do you want to be in five years?

Michael: Oh boy, I love what I'm doing now...and to do everything I can to help the children...and hello Bobby Sherrit!

Lisa Marie: Ah, I just want people to know what they're dealing with, before and... understand, that I'm not the, that we are not...the jokes, the degrading comments, all that kind of stuff, its really irritating. So I didn't get to get it in there, I hope this is over already, but...

Michael: We want to choke them!

DS: Alright, so in five years you want to...

Lisa Marie: Yeah, we want to choke them.

Michael: Don't believe the garbage, all the tabloid junk. Don't read it, don't listen to it. It's junk, it's stupid, enough of it.

DS: And tonight is over.

Michael: Yes! *raises his fist in victory*

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