In April, we laid a bombshell on you: We revealed that in 2014, Lisa Marie Presley attempted to have a showdown with Scientology leader David Miscavige, but he chickened out and sent his two sisters in his stead.
Presley was fed up after hearing all of the things Miscavige had been doing with “The Hole” — a prison for Scientology executives — and other allegations that had come out in the press in the last several years. But the final straw, our sources told us, was the way Miscavige was treating his own father, Ron.
When Lisa Marie tried to confront him about it in October 2014, Miscavige trotted out his sisters, Denise and Lori, who screamed at Presley about their father Ron and brother Ron Jr., apparently trying to justify their brother Dave’s behavior.
It backfired badly. Lisa Marie told her family that from that day, she was no longer a Scientologist (she had actually been pulling away from the church since at least 2008), and then she went on the warpath, taking key material from what would become Ron’s book Ruthless and feeding it secretly to the press for maximum damage.
We said in April that we had heard Lisa Marie was planning more headaches for David Miscavige in the future. But now, there’s a new surprise — she’s divorcing her husband of ten years, Michael Lockwood.
Lockwood was Lisa Marie’s musical director and a guitarist who played on her recordings. They had known each other well before it emerged in 2005 that they were dating. They were married in 2006.
Lockwood does have a few Scientology completions from that time, 2004-2007, but they are minor and reflect that he was doing those courses because he wanted to be a part of Lisa Marie’s life.
Our sources close to Lisa Marie tell us that Lockwood was not a Scientologist when Lisa Marie met him and he is not one now.
We think it’s presumptuous to assume that the divorce between them, or Lisa Marie’s attempt to get custody over their twin daughters, has anything to do with Scientology.
If we hear otherwise, we’ll report it. But for now, we think it’s probably not the case.
Lisa Marie, 48, has been married four times. She and musician Danny Keough were married from 1988 to 1994 and they have one daughter, Riley Keough, who is a well known actress, and a son, Benjamin.
As we said in our earlier story about Lisa Marie, Riley and Lisa Marie’s mother, Priscilla, also left Scientology when Lisa Marie did — Lisa Marie made it clear to them that they all needed to leave together, just as Leah Remini’s family had.
Lisa Marie was married to Michael Jackson from 1994 to 1996, she was married to Nicolas Cage in 2002 and they broke up only weeks later, but their marriage was ended legally in 2004.
With Lockwood, Lisa Marie has fraternal twin 7-year-old daughters, Harper and Finley. In her divorce filing, she has asked for custody of the two girls and monitored visitation rights for Lockwood. We’ll leave it up to our commenters to decide whether that’s an unusual request or not. In the meantime, we wish the best for Lisa Marie and Michael and their family.
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Bonus items from our tipsters
L. Ron Hubbard and his Alien Agenda? Actual caption: “Jim Marrs just starting his Satellite Media Tour promoting Battlefield Earth”
More rebranding? Note the subtle changes in the new Orientation film ticket….
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SAVE THE DATE
Kim O’Brien is already in planning mode for next year’s HowdyCon in Denver. We’ve selected a date, and we asked Observer to put together our first notice about it. Mark your calendars!
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 29, 2016 at 07:00
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Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts
Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield
