Presley with Oprah

I caught an episode of Oprah Primetime this afternoon while going through the ritual of channel flipping.

It was an hour with Lisa Marie Presley, the only daughter of the Pop king Elvis Presley. Oprah’s interview with Lisa was very touching though there were some tough questions and tough moments. Oprah was really tough asking her about her learning’s from each of the fall. Lisa Marie pulled it off with grace and gumption.

Sometimes I wonder how it is growing up as kids of famous celebrities. The world already has their eyes on you and has unreasonable high expectations of you. If it is not the real you then living the expectations in the cocoon become very difficult and to break out of it needs lot of support and guts. She had all the money, all the fame of her father to piggybank but there was certainly something missing and she always wanted to live the real Lisa. Did the media and world let her find the real self?

Lisa had issues growing up with a celebrity father and with both parents splitting and going their ways in her early teens only made things awry. The longing sense of emotional security and physical security made her get into a relationship and an early marriage at 19. Before she realized she had a kid from the marriage and was out of it.

Statistics say lightening can never strike a person more than once, but how come she got hit 3 times? Her relationship with the famous Pop king Michael Jackson soon ended in a marriage and not long before the milk curdled. She took two years to gather herself emotionally and physically. Are people born only to just walk into eye of the storm? Her third marriage with Nicholas Cage happened after 2 years of serious relationship and ended 110 days after her marriage. Within the age of 35 she had learned the toughest lessons in life and walked away with smile but the world that verbally walloped her will never get to feel and see her hurt, pain, and tears.

We all make wrong moves in life but we seldom get noticed and talked about. Being a celebrity one pay’s a heavy price to live their real self. The private moments of her life were made so public that to even cry in the private was shameful and she had to watch if someone was looking at her. She was longing to identify her real self and lead a normal life without the world passing their daily judgments.

It took so many whacks and tormenting moments to break out of the cocoon and when it finally happened all we got to see a beautiful butterfly. It didn’t matter much to Lisa today to come on the camera and talk about her troubled relationships with a guffaw.
She has definitely taken life with a stride and she was tested on the lessons before she was taught.

Today she is back in the music industry writing songs and making music albums. People heal their sores and realize their dreams through their children. Her beautiful daughter has taken up to the fashion ramps in Europe. As every parent would, Lisa is ensuring that her children get to live their real self and be around her kids as a friend to ensure they don’t repeat her mistakes.

The world got another chance to autopsy a celebrities life but this time for the right reason. It was a very moving interview and the prodding questions from Oprah at every point only brought out the best of Lisa and her learning’s in life.

Here are my learnings:

1. Making mistakes and falling down is something that happens to everyone in life be it a common man or a celebrity. – Life is fair more than a bitch!

2. Money, power, and celebrity hood does much more damage than good – It is not a bubble world.

3. The soul, heart and mind mature through experiences in life. – This is organic growth and they call this graduation.

4. Bottom line, people are the same and they feel the same irrespective of being of prince or pauper. - There is water in every cactus.

5. Did someone say life is a bed of roses? No, we all find ways to heal our hurt and move on in life. – Be the Phoenix bird.

6. Play the game of life with grace and confidence no one wins nor loses neither do people finish ahead of you. - Shit happens all the time, be sportive, we are here to learn.