masturbation and oral sex, as well as giving a detailed description of what he alleged
were the singer's genitals.
An official investigation began, with Jordan's mother adamant that there was no wrong-
doing on Jackson's part. Neverland Ranch was searched; and multiple children and fam-
ily members denied that Jackson was a pedophile, though his image took a further hit
when his older sister, La Toya, accused him of being a pedophile, a statement she later
retracted. Jackson agreed to a 25-minute strip search, conducted by police and doctors at
his ranch, required to see if a description provided by Jordan of Jackson's genitals was
accurate. Doctors concluded there were strong similarities, but it was not a definitive
match. His friends said he never recovered from the humiliation. He described the search
in an emotional public statement, and proclaimed his innocence.
The tabloids painted him in an extremely unfavorable light. Complaints about them in-
cluded bias against Jackson, paying for stories about alleged criminal activity, and buy-
ing leaked confidential material from the police investigation. On January 1, 1994, Jack-
son settled with the Chandlers out of court for $22 million, after which Jordan stopped co
-operating regarding criminal proceedings. Jackson was never charged, and the state
closed its criminal investigation, citing lack of evidence.
In May 1994, Jackson married singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of
Elvis Presley. They had first met in 1975 during one of Jack-
son's family engagements at the MGM Grand Hotel and Ca-
sino, and were reconnected through a mutual friend in early
1993. They stayed in contact every day over the telephone.
As the child molestation accusations became public, Jackson
became dependent on Lisa Marie for emotional support; she
was concerned about his faltering health and addiction to
drugs. Lisa Marie explained, "I believed he didn't do any-
thing wrong and that he was wrongly accused and yes I
started falling for him. I wanted to save him. I felt that I could do it." In a phone call he
made to her, she described him as high, incoherent and delusional. Shortly afterwards,
she persuaded him to settle the allegations out of court and go into rehabilitation to re-
cover. Jackson proposed to Lisa Marie over the telephone towards the fall of 1993, say-
ing, "If I asked you to marry me, would you do it?" They married in the Dominican Re-
public in secrecy, denying it for nearly two months afterwards. The marriage was, in her
words, "a married couple's life ... that was sexually active". At the time, the tabloid me-
dia speculated that the wedding was a ploy to prop up Jackson's public image. Jackson
and Presley divorced less than two years later, remaining friendly.
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