Roseanne Barr Reveals Why Lisa Marie Presley Put Michael Jackson Above Her Exes

The comments arrive months after Jackson returned to the center of pop culture conversation through the blockbuster biopic “Michael.” Presley, the only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, was married to Jackson from 1994 until their divorce was finalized in 1996. She died in January 2023 at age 54, while Jackson died in June 2009 at 50.

Barr told The Hollywood Reporter that she became close with Presley during the 1990s and recalled having candid conversations with her about past relationships. According to Barr, Presley spoke especially positively about Jackson when discussing their private life.

“She said he was the best lay she ever had,” Barr claimed. Barr insisted she was accurately recalling the conversation and said Presley had also spoken openly to her about other romantic partners, including actor Nicolas Cage.

The comedian described Jackson as Presley’s “number one” based on what she remembered Presley telling her. Because Presley died in 2023, Barr’s account of their private conversation cannot be independently confirmed.

Presley and Jackson married in May 1994, only weeks after her divorce from first husband Danny Keough. Their relationship immediately attracted enormous public attention and remained one of the most talked-about celebrity marriages of the 1990s.

While Barr’s specific recollection is new, Presley herself previously shared personal details about the beginning of her romantic relationship with Jackson. In her posthumous memoir, “From Here to the Great Unknown,” which daughter Riley Keough completed using recordings Presley left behind, she recalled Jackson expressing his love for her while she was still married to Keough.

Presley wrote that she eventually developed feelings for Jackson as well and ended her marriage to Keough before beginning their relationship. She also revealed that Jackson told her he was still a virgin when their relationship became romantic.

According to People’s coverage of Presley’s memoir, Presley said the disclosure made her nervous because she did not want to make the wrong move as their relationship became physical.

Presley and Jackson married in May 1994 when he was 35 and she was 25. Their divorce was finalized in August 1996 after more than two years of marriage. Presley later married Cage in August 2002. He filed for divorce three months later, although their divorce was not finalized until 2004.

Barr’s comments about Presley and Jackson were part of a much wider Hollywood Reporter interview surrounding her new self-financed sitcom, “Meemaw: A Modern Day Fable.” The comedy stars Barr alongside Randy Quaid, Drea de Matteo and Omar Gooding and centers on a grandmother heading a mixed-race family of preppers in Texas.

At the time of the interview, the independently produced project had not secured a distributor. Barr said she financed the show herself and described it as some of the funniest work she has done. The project arrives eight years after ABC canceled the 2018 revival of “Roseanne” following a racist social media post Barr made about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett.

Barr also used the interview to discuss several other familiar Hollywood names. She joked about developing a crush on Quaid while filming “Meemaw,” even saying she wrote additional kissing scenes for their characters because she enjoyed working with him.

Barr also said she had approached Elon Musk about potentially helping finance the project but had not received a response. Still, her recollection about Presley and Jackson may be among the interview’s most surprising revelations because it adds another story to the decades-long fascination surrounding their short-lived marriage.

Presley’s own memoir had already shown that the relationship was more personal and complicated than outsiders may have understood at the time. Barr’s new account offers another glimpse into what Presley may have said about the marriage privately; but, with both Presley and Jackson no longer alive, the comedian’s recollection remains just that: her account of a conversation between friends.