OK!

(c)Claudia Pattison, OK!, November 10, 1996.

Lisa Marie Presley, More than Elvis's daughter or Michael Jackson's ex. She models Gianni Versace's latest and reveals her new life.

The rebirth of  Lisa Marie as Versace's new model and a singer.

After her divorce from Michael Jackson, Lisa Marie Presley tells us about her search for a new life. In these exclusive photographs by Mario Testino for Gianni Versace, she wears the Atelier Versace new Autumn/Winter collection, and talks about coming of age at 30.

Lisa Marie Presley is a member of showbusiness's royal family. Born the daughter of the King of rock 'n' roll, her father died when she was nine, and his 13-page Will named her as his sole heir and beneficiary.

As a child she was showered with diamonds and furs. While still in her twenties, she married and divorced the world's best known pop icon, Michael Jackson. But now, no longer someone's daughter or someone's wife, Lisa Marie Presley has taken center stage. She is modeling for Versace and is hoping to launch a new singing career. In this exclusive photo session and interview she tells us how it all came about.

"It is not my intention to become a model, but the quality and style of Versace's clothing is exceptional, from the couture dresses to the suits - they make  women look and feel incredible," says Lisa Marie, 28, who has lent her face and her size six body to the new Atelier Versace campaign. "There was nothing like walking into the showroom and picking dresses of the racks. The great thing was that they were all too big for me, as well as too long, and had to be fitted."

Shot by Italian photographer Mario Testino, the pictures released to coincide with 20 years of collection by Versace - were taken in Paris.

Probably the best-know fashion designer in the world, Gianni Versace, counts rock stars, models and actors among his clients. He created the outfits, the set and video for Elton John's 1992 world tour. He designed Sting and Trudie Styler's wedding ensembles. Meanwhile George Michael made Versace's printed silk shirt a must-have for the man about town.

Lisa Marie, who admits to a fondness of Chanel, Diesel and Levi's, gets her passion for fashion from her mother Priscilla. "My mother has always had the most unbelievable wardrobe. She taught me froM a very young age never to allow the clothes to wear you. You take charge of the clothes, by flipping up the sleeves, turning a hat, twisting things this way, that way, whatever," she says. "I feel people should dress as individuals, no matter what trend is going on."

With her heavy-lidded eyes and sleepy smile, Lisa Marie is a dead ringer for her famous father - and the resemblance was even more startling when she donned khaki and a dyed black quiff for the April edition of american Vogue.  Fortunately, she doesn't share the King's fondness for fat-rich foods - he regularly enjoyed a pre-breakfast appetizer of deep-fried banana sandwiches at 7.000 calories a pop - and keeps a watchful eye on her figure. "I stick to natural remedies and alternative health care and definitely stay away from drugs, as they accelerate the ageing process. I never put chemicals into my body and I stay away from processed foods."

She also advocates a six-week intestinal cleansing programme, which involves swallowing scores of herbs, eating bucketloads of high-fibre fruits and vegetables, then fasting completely. "It cleans out everything that's been in there for years and years. I'm telling you, it was the most amazing thing I've ever done." she enthuses.

As she nears her 30th birthday, it's clear that Lisa Marie, who is mother to Danielle, 7, and Benjamin, 4 (her children from her first marriage to musician Danny Keough), is forging a new identity for herself. Besides her modeling work she is keen to launch a singing career. Describing her style as 'a cross between Tracy Chapman and Alanis Morrisette', she has built a recording studio in her LA home and is busy writing songs. "I am obviously not doing it for money or fame," she says. "It's artistically important to me, and if it doesn't work, if I can't figure it out, then it is not going to go any further."

Lisa Marie's life began on February 1st 1968. Her arrival prompted Elvis to marvel: "I can't believe  I made a part of this beautiful child." Her parents divorced when she was four, but she remained  Daddy's girl.

For her sixth birthday, he presented her with a fur coat, a diamond brooch and a child-size golf card. A year later she was the proud owner of  The Lisa Marie, her very own passenger jet. Once, Elvis flew her to Utah and back at a cost of  $ 30.000 when she mentioned she'd never seen snow.

On August 16 1977, Elvis's heart gave out after an apparent overdose. Unfortunately, Lisa Marie was visiting Graceland at the time. While paramedics administered mouth-to-mouth, she stood in the doorway and sobbed.

Linda Thompson, Elvis's live in lover from 1972 to 76, later told people magazine how the nine-year-old had phoned her with the news of his death. "My daddy is dead and nobody knows," she wept. Says Thompson: "I'll always remember how this child had the presence of mind and the love to pick up the phone and call me."

For the next few years, Lisa Marie studied at a series of private schools. Then when she was 12, her mother enrolled her in the Apple School, a Scientlogy-run establishment in Los Angeles. ( Advocates of Scientology - founded in the early Fifties by the late sci-fi writer L Ron Hubbard - include Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, John Travolta and Kirsti Alley.)

At 17, she graduated to Scientology's Celebrity Center. It was here that she met Danny Keough, a young bass player and the son of two Scientology teachers. In 1988, Lisa Marie became pregnant and she married Danny that October. The couple had another child in 1992, before separating amicably two years later. "Danny and I will always love each other. However, friendship was more suitable for us than marriage," she said at the time.

Twenty days after her divorce from danny was finalized, Lisa Marie and Michael Jackson flew to the Dominican Republic, where they were married on May 26 1994. "My married name is Mrs. Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson," she said in a statement, "and I am very much in love with Michael. I dedicate my life to being his wife."

The couple first met in Vegas in 1974, when Elvis took his six-year-old daughter to see the Jackson Five, with sixteen year old Michael. In 1993, their paths crossed again, when Michael was trying to secure songs from the Elvis Presley catalogue, and the two soon developed a close friendship.

On the surface, they had plenty in common. Both had celebrity childhoods with troubled fathers, both found it difficult to to trust people. Their marriage, however, lasted just 20 months. Filing for divorce, Lisa Marie asked the court only for the restoration of her maiden name and the right to have Jackson pay her legal bills.

Her friends say that the pair remained friends and hope to produce a film together in the future. Meanwhile, Hollywood gossips are speculating that Lisa Marie and Danny, who have been spotted arm in arm, may marry again, before long.

Today, Lisa Marie, who describes herself as "terribly shy", tries to lead a normal life, but her very celebrity necessitates a tight ring of security.

Home is a four-bedroom house in exclusive Hidden Hills, some 30 miles north of LA. An 8 ft-high metal fence and a team of security officers protect her around the clock.

She is an intensely private person, and understandably nervous about the prying eyes of the paparazzi. "I never leave anywhere without looking around. I look in the trash, I look in the leaves. I am always looking. I can sense when they're around me. I worry about it. I don't want my children photographed. I don't like their pictures all over the place."

Given her supreme marketability, it's easy to see why so many people want a piece of Lisa Marie - but she is determined never to dance to another's tune. "At the age 30, I see myself as having learned a lot from my mistakes and trusting myself more to make my own decisions, rather than seeking the advice of others."
 
 

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