Introduction:
In a deeply moving and candid conversation, Priscilla Presley opens a window into her private world—a world shaped by beauty, grief, motherhood, and resilience. At the center of it all is Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis and Priscilla, remembered not only as a public figure but as a daughter, a mother, a firecracker of a teenager, and a woman who wrestled with loss while carving her own path.
Priscilla begins by recalling the moment she first stepped foot on the property Elvis once cherished so deeply. “I looked at the house and all the property and I went ‘wow’,” she reflects. “Now I see why he loved it so much.” Her voice carries a tone of reverence for the life and memories rooted in that home, a place Elvis vowed never to sell. This emotional connection sets the tone for a heartfelt journey through the memories of raising their daughter alone after Elvis’s passing.
Lisa Marie, as Priscilla shares, was never one to blend in. She was curious, defiant, and intensely independent. “She was her own person, a little spitfire,” Priscilla says with a smile that carries both pride and the fatigue only a mother of a wild teenager can know. After Elvis died, Priscilla whisked Lisa away to Europe to shield her from the headlines and heartache. “Anything to keep her mind off losing her father,” she recalls. Toy stores, travel, distractions—anything but grief.
But even far from Graceland, Lisa Marie’s fierce spirit followed. There were sneaky nights out with boys, grounding sessions, and tearful confrontations. Priscilla recalls a time she followed Lisa and brought her back home, only to be reminded by her daughter: “What about my father with me?”—a pointed reflection on Elvis’s own history.
As Lisa Marie grew, so did the complexity of her life. Priscilla speaks with honesty about her daughter’s struggle with drugs and the pressures of fame. Yet, despite the chaos, she says Lisa had a sharp mind and an open heart. “She wasn’t stupid—she was very smart,” she emphasizes. Her daughter may have spurned school, but she possessed deep emotional and intellectual insight.
Priscilla also touches on the famous and sometimes fraught relationships Lisa held—most notably with Michael Jackson. “I wasn’t happy about it,” she admits. Lisa had barely seen him before marrying, and soon after, she realized the reality behind the fantasy. “She called me up and said, ‘Mom, you were right.’”
Throughout all the ups and downs, there was always love. Lisa’s song “Raven,” written for her mother, left Priscilla in tears. “It touched me. It was her way of showing the love she had for me,” she says quietly.
Today, Priscilla affirms the closeness of her family, especially with granddaughter Riley Keough. “Those stories about us fighting? Not true,” she insists. Their bond remains strong, even under public scrutiny.
In the end, Priscilla leaves us with the memory of a daughter who was tender and tenacious, wild and wonderful. “Lisa could be tough,” she says. “But she was so giving, so caring. She was always trying to find herself—and in doing so, she gave herself to the world.”
This is not just a story of Lisa Marie Presley. It’s the story of a mother’s love—unwavering, raw, and eternal.