Lisa Marie Presley is battling such a mid-life crisis at 40 that she's even contacted her ex-husband Michael Jackson for what she hoped would be 'closure' of her marriage to him.

'I feel like I haven't done a thing with my life but be Elvis' daughter,' she says. 'And that wasn't exactly my doing.'

She was speaking to two friends over lunch at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre in Hollywood.

'I don't know,' says Lisa Marie, who's pregnant with her third child. 'It's all come too easy, I think. I don't feel a sense of accomplishment.'

One of the women at that luncheon says: 'Lisa Marie is facing the mother of all mid-life crises. She's taking stock of her life and is not sure she likes what she sees. It started a couple of years ago and, to be honest, I'm pretty sure that's why she decided to have a baby this late in life.'

The friend adds that anyone who knows Lisa Marie, who's due in August, will tell you she's always been a little cranky - that's her personality - but this pregnancy has made her even edgier.

'I think her husband Michael [Lockwood] has his hands full with her,' the friend says. 'She's pretty demanding. Right now, all you want to do if you know her is just try not to make her mad.'

That's not news to her loved ones, though. Lisa Marie has always been a little harsh. With her children she's a real task master.

'The truth is she had no example of motherhood,' a relative says.

'Her mum Priscilla wasn't exactly mother of the year.' And Lisa Marie agrees. 'It's true,' she says. 'My mum was all about sending me off to boarding schools because she didn't know what to do with me. I was so angry all the time. I absolutely detested her boyfriend [model Michael Edwards]. I think I hated all her boyfriends, actually. It's no wonder she wanted me out of the house.'

Lisa was also heavily into drugs when she was a teenager and almost overdosed several times. She says Scientology - to which she was introduced by John Travolta - saved her life. Today she is a staunch Scientologist and even has a suite at the Scientology Centre in Hollywood where she sometimes stays when she feels she needs a weekend of intense classes.

However, unlike Tom Cruise who has wanted his kids to be Scientologists, Lisa Marie has decided to let her children choose. Neither are Scientologists.

'Lisa Marie has worked hard to be the kind of mum to Danielle Riley [18] and Benjamin [15] that Priscilla wasn't to her,' a relative says. 'But it's not been easy. Both children take after their mum in that they can be stubborn and independent. Unlike Priscilla, Lisa Marie doesn't tolerate any nonsense from them. "I know all the tricks because I invented all the tricks," she tells them.

'She'll ground them in a second if she doesn't like their behaviour,' the source continues. 'She was chastising Ben about something the other day and he turned and walked out on her. "You're grounded for a week," she told him. "No video games, no TV, no telephone, no nothing," and that was just because he walked away from her.'

Another relative adds: 'Lisa Marie has always been tough. She used to scare poor Michael Jackson half to death when he was married to her [from 1994 to 1996] because she wouldn't take any rubbish from him.

'She would tell him to "grow up or get out".  He'd just burst into tears. Then she would call him "a big cry baby". He was the one who ended that marriage, she didn't - but she was about to. In fact, she was real ticked off that he got to court first.'

It's interesting that in the past year Lisa Marie has been striving for closure in her past marriages. 'I truly think that's part of her mid-life crisis,' her friend says. 'She has been determined to tie up loose ends.'

Lisa Marie and Danny Keough, her first husband, are now best friends. He's the father of her two children. Their close relationship is something her current husband Michael didn't understand when he married her.

'Why is he always hanging around?' Michael would ask. Lisa Marie's answer? ‘Because he's been around longer than you.'

'She and Nicolas Cage, to whom she was only married a couple months, have also buried the hatchet,' her friend says.

'The missing link is Michael Jackson. She'd really like to have some closure with him, ask him some questions, find out what that marriage was all about in his head. Was he just using her for publicity? She really wants to know, even all these years later.'

Surprisingly enough, about a month ago Lisa Marie decided to track the fallen singing superstar down. She called him in Las Vegas, out of the blue. He was so surprised to hear from her, he couldn't even speak. She did all the talking and got no answers - and no closure, either.

When she hung up, she said: 'Well, he hasn't changed much, that's for sure. I guess that's it for him until the next telephone call in 10 more years, if then.'

It's easy to see why Lisa Marie feels like she is facing a crossroads in her life. She's right - she has had it easy.

As Elvis Presley's daughter, she's been a multimillionaire her entire life. She hasn't had to work for a living. She's had doors open for her because of the Presley name, which is likely how she got her recent recording deal at Capitol Records. She's on the board of directors of the many Elvis Presley enterprises, but really, she doesn't do much but just act as a figurehead.

'When I look back on my life,' she told her friends at that luncheon in Hollywood, 'I think the best I can say is that I've been a good mother.'

Her friend offered: 'Well, that should give you some satisfaction.'
Lisa Marie shrugged. ‘Maybe now I'm pregnant and I get to do it again, I'll get more joy out of it,' she said glumly.

Finally, she forced a weak smile and concluded: 'Maybe I need a job. I don't know maybe I just need to lighten up, huh?'

Yeah, maybe she's right.