Priscilla Presley has reflected on the day her daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, died.
Lisa Marie, the only child of Priscilla and her late ex-husband, Elvis Presley, died in 2023 when she was 54 years old of natural causes, although a medical examiner determined a small bowel obstruction caused her cardiac arrest.
Prior to the release of her new memoir, Softly, as I Leave You: Life After Elvis, which hits shelves on September 23, Priscilla spoke to People about her daughter’s untimely death.
“It was the second saddest day of my life, other than losing Elvis,” she told the publication. “It took a long time to come to terms with the fact that Lisa was gone.”
At the time, Lisa Marie’s ex-husband, Danny Keough, found her unresponsive at home and quickly called her mother to meet them at the hospital.
“We were there all day long,” Priscilla recalled. “Lisa really wasn't breathing, so she was on the ventilator. For hours we were there waiting, hoping and praying until the doctor came in and said, ‘Priscilla, I'm so sorry, she's gone.’ We just couldn't believe it — didn't want to believe it. It was hard on all of us, it still is.”
Priscilla’s comments come one month after her former business partner filed a lawsuit alleging that she withdrew her daughter’s life-saving medication to get control of the family name.
According to the suit, obtained by The Independent, Priscilla “ultimately wanted to control” her daughter’s trust and Graceland, which her lawyer labeled as “malicious character assassination.”
Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko, the heads of Priscilla Presley Partners, are suing her for breach of contract and fraud; they’re seeking at least $50 million.
The suit alleges that Priscilla was aware that Lisa was preparing to remove her as the sole head of her trust and “pulled the plug within hours of Lisa being admitted” to the hospital.
“Priscilla knew that Lisa’s death neutralized the threat of Lisa’s efforts to have Priscilla removed as the sole trustee of Lisa’s irrevocable life insurance trust, and Priscilla ultimately wanted to control the Promenade Trust and Graceland,” the filing says. “At her house the following week, Priscilla exclaimed, ‘I’m the queen. I’m in charge of Graceland.’”
Marty Singer, Priscilla’s lawyer, slammed the lawsuit as “meritless” in a statement.
“This is, without a doubt, one of the most shameful, ridiculous, salacious, and meritless lawsuits I have seen in my practice. This is nothing more than a sad and vicious attempt to falsely tarnish the reputation of an eighty year old woman in blatant retaliation for bringing a lawsuit to redress the wrongful conduct of Brigitte Kruse, Kevin Fialko, and their co-conspirators.”
