[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Michael Edwards is denying molesting Lisa Marie Presley.
In the singer’s newly released posthumous memoir, From Here To The Great Unknown, Lisa Marie claimed she had been raped by her mother Priscilla Presley‘s boyfriend. In the book, she writes that the Mommie Dearest actor had a “horrible temper” and first assaulted her when she was just 10 years old. Oof.
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Per Us Weekly, she said she “woke up to find him on his knees next to my bed, running his finger up my leg under the sheets, and if I moved, he stopped — so I moved.” According to Page Six, she added:
“He said he was going to teach me what was going to happen when I got older. […] He was putting his hand on my chest and saying a man’s going to touch here, there, he put his hand between my legs, and he said they’re going to touch you here. I think he gently kissed me and then left that night.”
She reportedly told her mother what happened the next day. Then, the actor, who was around 36 at the time, apologized to her — but that didn’t stop the alleged abuse. She continued, per Us:
“Edwards was sitting on their bed looking very sullen and sulky. He said, ‘I’m so sorry, but in Europe, that’s how they teach the kids, so that’s what I was doing.’ I didn’t know what to say. I would always feel bad for him when he apologized. Eventually, it became that he would touch me and spank me, telling me not to look — ‘Don’t look at me,’ he’d say, ‘Don’t turn your head.’ I assume he was jerking off.”
OMG…
She added:
“He did it very calmly, just sitting in a chair, whacking my ass. My butt would be black, blue, orange, green.”
Awful.
Her mother’s alleged response to the bruises was just as cruel, too. Lisa Marie claimed that she said:
“Well what did you do to cause that?”
WTF?!
On Thursday, the ’80s star — who dated Priscilla after her husband Elvis Presley died, and was with her from 1977 to 1984 — told Page Six he absolutely didn’t do any of this. The actor urged:
“These claims are absolutely untrue. I never molested Lisa Marie and am shocked at the suggestion that I did.”
That said, the Terminator 2: Judgment Day alum, who was 26 years older than Lisa Marie, DID admit to “craving Lisa sexually” in his 1988 memoir, Priscilla, Elvis, and Me. But he now claims that was made up! Wait, what?!?! He told the outlet:
“I was encouraged to embellish a harmless anecdote about Lisa Marie in my memoir from the 1980s and now regret that I did.”
But maybe it wasn’t so harmless??
In that very same old book, the much older man claimed that he was attracted to his girlfriend’s daughter and would eagerly wait for her to return home from school each day in the same way that “Elvis [Presley] had once eagerly awaited Priscilla’s return to Graceland from school each day.” He creepily reflected:
“Once, when Priscilla and I were sitting at the dinner table and Lisa was sitting between us, Lisa got up to get something from the refrigerator and her bare knee accidentally brushed against my hand.”
He straight up acknowledged he was “in love” with her, penning:
“It sent waves of desire through me. I looked at Priscilla and thought, Can’t you see what’s happening — I’ve fallen in love with your daughter.”
Mind you, this was a literal child! So gross! And also, why write any of that if it wasn’t true? TBH, this feels like more than just embellishing a story for more sales. It’s disturbing AF!
But, classically, he’s trying to downplay it all right now. He insisted that the late star’s retelling of the past is nothing but lies. He argued:
“I understand that these stories sell books, but the notion that I molested Lisa Marie is just a fabrication.”
FWIW, his daughter Caroline Van Zandt, who was close friends with Lisa Marie, also stood up for him in a statement to the outlet. She said:
“Lisa Marie and I were close friends throughout my father’s relationship with Priscilla. […] We were confidants, like sisters, sharing all our secrets and complaining about our parents as typical teenagers do.”
The statement continued:
“I have kept many notes and letters from Lisa Marie during those years and she never stated or insinuated that my dad touched her inappropriately. When she told me about my dad walking into her room, we then addressed and resolved the issue as a family. Those who know Priscilla and her fierce protectiveness of her family understand she never would have tolerated any sort of behavior like that. I’m disappointed and sad that these claims are being made.”
Just because Lisa Marie didn’t say anything doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Caroline wasn’t exactly an unbiased confidant, anyway! Just saying!
So far, Priscilla has not commented on the allegations. And unfortunately, the 54-year-old is no longer around to speak on this further. As Perezcious readers know, she passed in 2023 and her daughter Riley Keough helped finish her book using audio recordings.
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If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources. If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
[Image via FayesVision/MEGA/WENN]