Sad Details About Lisa Marie Presley's Relationship With Her Father
Elvis Presley had many relationships throughout his life, including those with Ginger Alden, Linda Thompson, and of course, Priscilla Presley. Beyond the music and glamour, though, the most important woman in his life was his daughter, Lisa Marie Presley. The two were, as they say, thick as thieves, turning Presley's Graceland Mansion into their personal playground. Lisa Marie split her time between living with Priscilla and Elvis — and it was apparent through her prior commentary which one she preferred.
"He was not strict at all. And I got away with murder. When he would sleep all day, me and my friends had the run of Graceland all day, and I knew no one was going to tell me what to do, because they would get fired," Lisa Marie said on "The Talk" in 2013. "I was, truthfully, a terror, to be honest. I'm not proud of that particularly. My mom was completely the opposite, she was really strict, so it was very confusing."
Elvis even flew Lisa Marie on his private plane so she could see the snow when she was a child. According to Rolling Stone, she often cried when it was time to leave for her mother's house. Time was precious for the mother-father duo. Sadly, Elvis Presley died when Lisa Marie was only nine years old. This left her dealing with a mixed bag of memories regarding her father before her own tragic death in 2023.
Lisa Marie Presley remembered the last time she saw her father
Elvis Presley died early on August 16, 1977, at his Graceland Mansion. Lisa Marie Presley was visiting her father at the time and apparently pretended to be asleep when Elvis checked in that evening to kiss her goodnight.
"It was 4 a.m. I was supposed to be asleep, actually. He found me," Lisa Marie said, according to Radar Online. That turned out to be the last time she would ever see her father alive. Lisa Marie sadly didn't see Elvis again until he was sprawled out on the floor of his upstairs bathroom. Presley's then-girlfriend, Ginger Alden, was attending to him. Instinctively, Lisa Marie ran and called Presley's former girlfriend Linda Thompson, who recalled Lisa Marie saying, "My daddy's dead! He's smothered in the carpet!"
Following her father's death, Lisa Marie became enveloped in one of the unhappiest periods of her life. She said she felt like death was a spectator following her. "I feel like I've lived four lives in one. I dealt with death early on. It wasn't just my father, it was my grandma, my grandpa, my great–grandfather, my aunts — all in a two–year period. I didn't have much of a runway into life. I was, like, a deep, dark kid who was always melancholy," she said in a previous interview with Newsweek.
This darkness followed Lisa Marie, who mourned the tragic death of her son, Benjamin Keough, in 2020.
Lisa Marie Presley reflected on her father's legacy prior to her death
Lisa Marie Presley, along with her mother Priscilla Presley, played a major role in keeping her father's legacy alive for future generations. Elvis Presley's Graceland Mansion, where so many childhood memories were made, is now open to the public to visit. According to Blasting News, prior to her untimely death, Lisa Marie regularly visited the mansion with her family, especially at Christmas time. She reportedly considered it a place where she could be closer to her dad.
While the mansion is available to tour, Lisa Marie had previously closed off the upstairs quarters where Elvis spent most of his time. The area is still very much like Elvis left it, as if it's waiting for the king to one day return. Lisa Marie discovered new things about her father there during the last few years of her life. According to the Express, in 2022, the 54-year-old said, "There was a quote on the wall as I was leaving the [new Graceland] exhibit, it said something like: 'Becoming a father is the best thing that's ever happened to me.' I had never seen it before, last night was the first time I saw it, so that was really cool."
Lisa Marie spent even more time at her father's home in recent years alongside Austin Butler, who was learning about Elvis in order to portray him in Baz Luhrmann's film about the rock n' roll icon. A few days prior to her death, Lisa Marie praised Butler's performance in "Elvis" saying, "I'm so proud. And I know that my father would also be very proud," (via People).