“You have to get yourself through it,” Priscilla said after her daughter’s January death
Photo: Jon Kopaloff/WireImage, Joe Scarnici/Getty
Priscilla Presley is still dealing with the death of daughter Lisa Marie Presley.
The actress and former wife of Elvis Presley, 78, opened up about how she struggles to come to terms with Lisa Marie’s untimely death at the age of 54 as she attended a Q&A in Las Vegas on Friday ahead of the premiere of Sofia Coppola’s film about her early life and marriage to the King of Rock ‘N’ Roll, titled Priscilla.
“It’s not easy. It still isn’t easy,” Priscilla said of Lisa Marie’s death in January. “It’s still unbelievable, and you have to get yourself through it. … I have to be here for her.”
Noting how the last time the mother-daughter duo were together was at the Golden Globe Awards, where they rooted for Austin Butler to win for his lead role in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, Priscilla recalled, “We were in the audience, and we were holding hands, and we were pushing for Austin.”
Actress Priscilla Presley (L) and Singer Lisa Marie Presley attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony during the grand opening of “Graceland Presents ELVIS: The Exhibition – The Show – The Experience”.Bryan Steffy/WireImage
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“Obviously he got it, and we celebrated and that was such a great time and a great memory, because two days later she passed,” she continued. “So it was great that we had that time together.”
“She left me with a lot of great memories,” Priscilla added.
Lisa Marie — born in Memphis, Tennessee on Feb. 1, 1968 — was the only child from Elvis Presley and Priscilla’s marriage. After his death in August 1977, Lisa Marie eventually became the sole heir of his estate and also inherited her father’s Graceland residence.
Rock and roll singer Elvis Presley with his wife Priscilla Beaulieu Presley and their 4 day old daughter Lisa Marie Presley on February 5, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
During her Q&A appearance, Priscilla also delved into her relationship with her granddaughter, Riley Keough, whom she reached a settlement agreement with over Lisa Marie Presley’s estate on Wednesday.
“We are very close. I don’t care what you read in the paper, we are very close. In fact, we’re having Thanksgiving together,” Priscilla said. “We keep the families together, but there are rumors and stuff in the paper that we’re fighting, and it’s not true at all.”
“Riley and I have never had any kind of problem,” she continued. “We’re here to support the family and keep the family together.”
Per the agreement approved by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, Priscilla would receive a $1 million lump-sum payment funded by Lisa Marie’s $25 million life insurance policy, her son, Navarone Garibaldi, will be a beneficiary of Lisa Marie’s trust and she would be buried near her ex-husband at Graceland upon her death.
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Lisa Marie Presley, Priscilla Presley, Riley Keough, and Finley Aaron Love Lockwood attend the Handprint Ceremony honoring Three Generations of Presley’s at TCL Chinese Theatre on June 21, 2022 in Hollywood, California.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
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In an August interview with Vanity Fair, Keough, 34 — who welcomed a daughter, Tupelo Storm, named after her grandfather’s birth place last year — also made it clear that things with her grandmother had settled.
“Things with Grandma will be happy. They’ve never not been happy,” she said. “There was a bit of upheaval, but now everything’s going to be how it was.”
She added, “She’s a beautiful woman, and she was a huge part of creating my grandfather [Elvis’] legacy and Graceland. … It’s a big responsibility she has tried to take on. None of that stuff has really ever been a part of our relationship prior. She’s just been my grandma.”