Michael Jackson feared he'd "end up" like Elvis: Lisa Marie

Fans sing as they pay respects to the late pop star Michael Jackson near Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris June 26, 2009.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson's former wife Lisa Marie Presley said on Friday the pop star was a tortured soul who once predicted that he would "end up" like her father, the late rock icon Elvis Presley.

Writing on her MySpace blog, Presley also ripped into reports in the media that her relationship with Jackson was contrived, saying they split because she could not save him from self-destructive behavior.

"Our relationship was not a 'a sham' as is being reported in the press," Presley, 41, wrote in the blog posting, which was verified by her spokesperson.

She called it an "unusual relationship" but added: "Nonetheless, I do believe he loved me as much as he could love anyone and I loved him very much."

Presley, the only daughter of the original "King of Rock 'n' Roll" and a performer in her own right, describes having a conversation with Jackson about her father's August 16, 1977 death. Elvis Presley died at age 42 of a heart attack after years of drug use.

"At some point he (Jackson) paused, he stared at me very intensely and he stated with an almost calm certainty: 'I am afraid that I am going to end up like him, the way he did.'"

Presley wrote that she tried to deter Jackson from the idea, but he shook his head and nodded "as if he knew what he knew" and would not be dissuaded.

"As I sit here overwhelmed with sadness, reflection and confusion at what was my biggest failure to date, watching on the news almost play by play the exact scenario I saw happen on August 16, 1977 happening again right now with Michael (a sight I never wanted to see again), just as he predicted, I am truly, truly gutted," she said.

Presley wrote that she and Jackson's family tried to save him from "the inevitable, which is what just happened" but she became overwhelmed and had to end their relationship.

"I became very ill and emotionally/ spiritually exhausted in my quest to save him from certain self-destructive behavior and from the awful vampires and leeches he would always manage to magnetize around him," she wrote.

(Editing by Will Dunham)