After Jackson passed away in 2009, the documentary Leaving Neverland brought forth accusations that he had allegedly abused children.
This documentary included testimonies from Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who alleged they were abused by Jackson during their childhood.
Jackson became part of Keough’s family when he married her mother, Lisa Marie Presley.
Jackson, who passed away at 54 in 2023, married Lisa Marie in 1994, but the marriage ended two years later in 1996.
On the Call Her Daddy podcast, Keough shared her perspective on her mother’s marriage to Jackson, stating: “I think when she saw Michael’s life, there were things that he had that she didn’t have.
“The one thing I know is that they were in love and that their love for one another was genuine because I was there and I remember. Everything else, I don’t know because I wasn’t there.”
Despite the widespread nature of the claims against Jackson, Keough mentioned she never discussed them with Lisa Marie before her mother passed.
The 35-year-old commented: “I was never told anything. It’s actually not something I ever asked as an adult. I think it just was what it was. I don’t know, it just never came to mind, I guess.”
Keough, whose father is Danny Keough, speculated on what her late father might have thought about the allegations concerning Jackson.
She elaborated on the podcast: “I would imagine he said all kinds of things to my mom that we didn’t know about. But the way my parents parented was very much like ‘we don’t fight around the kids’.
“We didn’t know about any allegations, we didn’t know, we had no awareness of that.”
Following the release of Leaving Neverland in 2019, Michael Jackson’s estate dismissed the documentary as ‘yet another lurid production in an outrageous and pathetic attempt to exploit and cash in on’ the singer.
Actor Macaulay Culkin, who was close friends with Jackson, has previously stated that he never witnessed any abuse by Jackson and denied any inappropriate behavior towards him by the singer.
Culkin testified in Jackson’s defense during a 2005 trial, where Jackson was acquitted of charges related to molesting a boy.
In a 2020 interview with Esquire magazine, Culkin reiterated: “I’m gonna begin with the line – it’s not a line, it’s the truth: He never did anything to me. I never saw him do anything. And especially at this flashpoint in time, I’d have no reason to hold anything back.”
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues or wish to speak to someone confidentially regarding the welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.