Lisa Marie Presley felt burdened by living under
the shadow of her famous father — but she still called her bond with Elvis
"special." This is the truth about the King's relationship with his princess.
Lisa Marie Presley was the
personification of what it meant to be born into fame. The only daughter
of Elvis Presley and his wife Priscilla arrived into the world on February 1, 1968.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, she spent her childhood on the sprawling Presley
property of Graceland. Elvis and Priscilla's love story is well-engraved in the pages of
history — as is the story of their tumultuous later years. In the run-up to Lisa's birth,
which occurred nine months after the couple married in May 1967,
the Presley household buzzed with apprehension. Priscilla was anxious over the impending changes
in their lives — so much so that she even considered getting an abortion.
Elvis had reportedly considered separating from Priscilla when she was heavily pregnant. But
while they did welcome their child together, Lisa's birth altered the dynamic of their sex
life. Elvis apparently wasn't keen on making love to a mother – even the mother of his own child.
There were also persistent questions over Elvis' faithfulness to his pregnant wife,
with rumors that he was having an affair with Frank Sinatra's daughter, Nancy. Ironically,
Nancy later recalled that Elvis called her after Lisa's birth, telling her "how he was
so moved by the experience" of becoming a father. The King didn't produce more
children in his lifetime, reserving all his attention for his first and only daughter.
Lisa Marie Presley grew up amid luxury. As the sole daughter and heir of Elvis Presley,
nothing was in short supply for her — including her father's affection. For all the nine years of
her life that he was alive, Elvis heaped attention onto her, and is said to have indulged her every
whim. Perhaps the most well-known and abundant testament to that was when Elvis flew his daughter
to Idaho for a mere half an hour so that she could play in the snow for the first time.
But his music career's smashing comeback in the late 1960s meant Elvis was back to being away from
home and on the road. Though he wasn't always a hands-on dad, as Priscilla Presley observed,
he made sure to make up for it with gifts and affection whenever he was around.
Besides the extravagant gifts, Lisa Marie and Elvis' relationship was built
on sweet father-daughter moments, such as Elvis singing to Lisa,
or Lisa being allowed backstage for close-up looks at Elvis' iconic showman
fineries. Being the apple of her father's eye shielded Lisa from Elvis' infamous temper,
and she could boast of getting away with most anything. According to The Week, Lisa recalled:
"No rules. I loved it! Anything I wanted, I just had to ask."
Elvis and Priscilla Presley's lifelong love affair came to an end in October 1973, when the couple
formally parted ways. Though the iconic Presley pairing may have legally come to an end, one could
hardly make out changes in their close-knit family unit. As Priscilla put it to Today:
"When we were together, you never knew we were divorced."
Priscilla and Elvis shared custody of their only daughter Lisa Marie Presley,
who traveled between Graceland and Los Angeles to spend time with her
parents. But if she had to choose between the disciplinarian Priscilla and the fun Elvis,
Lisa naturally preferred the latter. She revealed on The Talk:
"He was not strict at all."
Meanwhile, Priscilla's attempts at keeping her daughter unspoiled were often overshadowed by
her ex-husband's lavish gifting. At five, he gave Lisa a mink coat and,
at six, a diamond ring — gifts which Priscilla's judgment of excess privilege
prompted her to stow away. When Elvis wasn't showering presents upon Lisa,
he was riding with her around the neighborhood in their golf cart or crooning songs to her like
"Can't Help Falling in Love." Lisa's special bond with Elvis survived her parents' divorce;
if anything, the rupture brought them even closer. Priscilla said, according to The Guardian:
"We really wanted him to stay in her life."
Lisa Marie Presley spent nine wholesome
years of her life with Elvis Presley before he passed away on August 16, 1977. The heart attack
he suffered was believed to have been brought on by his drug addiction, with PBS reporting that at
the time of his death, the King's bloodstream was laced heavily with drugs. In the final
years of Elvis' life, there was accelerated substance abuse that distressed both his health,
as well as his daughter. Though she was only a little girl at the time, Lisa admitted to being
disturbed by the signs of her father's failing condition. She recalled, according to ABC News:
"He'd come to my room and sort of stumble to my
doorway and start to fall, and I had to go catch him."
According to ABC News, she used to plead to her father:
"Don't die. Are you going to die?"
Elvis' lifestyle didn't deter him from playing the ever-diligent father to Lisa. He pampered
her by allowing her to keep an irregular sleep schedule, allowed her to miss school,
named a private jet after her, and even more. Despite all that, Lisa could sense
something was off as the years progressed. She recalled in an interview with Playboy:
"His temper was getting worse, he was gaining weight, he was not happy."
Elvis' drug habit, which he tried to keep concealed from Lisa, revealed
itself to her once when she apparently saw him popping pills. Throughout her own lifetime,
Lisa also battled drug addiction, checking into rehab multiple times in her youth and adulthood.
Lisa Marie Presley
was around when Elvis Presley left the building for good in 1977. Before his death,
Elvis had regained his public image as the world's most charismatic showman with comeback
tours and his legendary Vegas residency during the 1960s and 70s. He was a changed man then,
a truth reflected most evidently in his altered physical form and ill health caused by continued
drug abuse. At home, his little daughter could see it, too. Tragedy soon struck,
and one ill-fated afternoon, Elvis was found dead on his bathroom floor in Graceland.
Lisa was reportedly present on the Memphis property when her father died. She rarely
discussed this particular memory in her interviews, although she did once recall their
last meeting. In the wee hours of August 16, Lisa happened to be awake when her father was only just
making it home. Elvis, 42 at the time, packed her off to bed. Lisa recalled, according to Express:
"He came in and kissed me good night after that. That was the last time I saw him alive."
"And I was a wreck. I was a mess."
Lisa Marie Presley once told The
Sydney Morning Herald,
"I was just nine when my father died, but I had a very special relationship with him."
It was a sentiment she espoused all her life. He may have been the Elvis Presley to the world;
to her, he was the man she watched television and took golf cart rides with.
"One of my older kids, they like to get on the golf carts. That's
what we used to do. It was just kind of a big playground, really."
Growing up at Graceland, Lisa spent a lot of time with Elvis,
but aside from being treated to private performances from the iconic singer,
she didn't otherwise immerse herself in music. When Lisa finally did grow to pick
up her father's profession of singing, she didn't forget to pay tribute where it was due.
A bunch of reimagined duets were produced in a way that allowed the father-daughter duo to "sing"
together on some of Elvis' most beloved tracks, including "Don't Cry Daddy," "In the Ghetto,"
and "Where No One Stands Alone." Lisa's heritage granted her the prestigious title of "Princess
of Rock," which, all her life, she tried to live up to. Though the smooth baritone she bore made
it impossible to ignore her heritage, Lisa was insistent about creating her own career path.
"I want to move people through music in my own way — not the way he did."
Having a superstar for a parent comes with many advantages but also one very glaring disadvantage:
the pressure to live up to their legacy. And imagine the weight of responsibility
on the shoulders of Lisa Marie Presley, whose father's fame defied measurement.
Aside from living in the public eye from the day she was born, Lisa had to exist in
the magnificent shadow of Elvis Presley's talent. According to The Baltimore Sun, she once stated:
"I'm not him, I could never be like him, ever, and I don't want to try."
Unfortunately, the nonstop drawing of comparisons was an inevitable consequence of being Elvis'
daughter. Growing up around a singer who moved hearts around the world surprisingly
didn't motivate Lisa to pick up the microphone — at least, not right away. She was well into
her teens by the time she first considered a singing career, with her debut track "Lights
Out" earning a positive response from critics. With her first album, To Whom it May Concern,
Lisa kickstarted her own unique career in music. She told The New York Times:
"I'm not trying to be Elvis Presley's child. And I'm not trying to run from it either."
One would think that as the daughter
of one of history's greatest musical acts, Lisa Marie Presley would have been well-set to
thrive in neck-deep wealth for as long as she lived. Being the only child of Elvis Presley,
Lisa enjoyed a plush lifestyle growing up in Graceland. After Elvis' death in 1977,
a shocking truth came to light: the King had left his family with significant debt and millions of
dollars in taxes that needed to be paid off. A report by the Los Angeles Times that detailed
the state of the plummeting Presley finances observed that Priscilla Presley took charge
of her husband's estate, jacking its value up to $100 million, before Lisa claimed her inheritance.
Lisa legally assumed her role as the sole heir of the Presley property in 1993 upon turning 25.
In 2004, reports emerged that Lisa was selling a big chunk of Elvis' estate in a $100 million
deal. Graceland was retained. The goal, Lisa said at the time in an interview with the Today show,
was to make the Elvis Presley Enterprises "an even greater force in the entertainment
industry" than it already was. But behind the curtains, things were all shook up. By 2018,
she had sued her longtime business manager Barry Siegel, alleging his mismanagement of
funds had led her to financial ruin and losses in excess of $100 million. In an
unfortunate parallel to her father's death, Lisa died in 2023 with debt to her name.
Baz Luhrmann's Elvis swept nominations at award shows in 2022, even receiving
one of the longest standing ovations ever seen at Cannes. But the biopic's biggest
win may have been the applause it won from Lisa Marie Presley. She tweeted:
"Absolutely exquisite. Austin Butler channeled and embodied my father's heart & soul beautifully."
Along with her mother Priscilla Presley, she was at the forefront of promotions for the film,
raving about it with such passion that she even said she would eat her foot if
it didn't win an Oscar. The film gave her an opportunity to bask in her father's legacy.
Butler's definitive big screen role was also his most intimidating one,
given the shoes he had to fill. But encouragement from Lisa "brought [him] to tears," he said,
according to The New York Times. Elvis came at a crucial point in the life of
the music titan's only daughter, who lost her son, Benjamin Keough,
to suicide only two years prior to the film's release. Following the tragedy,
Lisa had all but retreated from public life, until Elvis brought her back to the red carpet for what
would prove to be one last time. She remarked on Instagram ahead of the biopic's release:
"I do believe that this may be my first smile in 2 years."
Lisa made her final public appearance on January 11, 2023 at the Golden Globes,
where she saw Butler clinch the award for Best Actor for his portrayal of her father.