In an emotional new interview set to air Thursday, Priscilla Presley tearfully recalls the last time she saw her daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, before she died in January 2023.
Priscilla sat down with Piers Morgan, he wrote in The Sun, where she recounted going to the Golden Globes with her daughter on January 7, in support of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, which was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director.
“She didn’t look well that night, and I was concerned,” Priscilla said of her daughter. “She asked Jerry Schilling, one of my best friends, if he could hold her. Her heels were high, but she had worn them before, and I thought, ‘Is she OK?’ She didn’t really look that OK, she looked very frail.”
After the ceremony, Lisa Marie suggested they have a drink at the Chateau Marmont, and mother and daughter tripped giddily in their heels to the bar.
“We went and sat down, and she said, ‘Mom, I have to go, my stomach really hurts.’ I go, ‘Of course, are you OK?’ She goes, ‘Yes, yes, I just really have to go.’ And I go, ‘OK, we will get the cars now,’” Priscilla recalled in the interview.
“Then I hugged her, and she went her way, and I went mine, and that hug was the last hug I gave her.”
Days later, on January 12, she died at the age of 54 due to a small bowel obstruction. Lisa Marie was the only child that Priscilla and the late music icon Elvis Presley had together.
“It’s like a large part of your life is taken away,” Priscilla said tearfully, covering her face with her hand.
Lisa Marie’s death followed two tragic losses for Priscilla. In July 2020, her grandson, Benjamin Keough, died by suicide at age 27. In August 2021, her mother Anna died.
She also discussed the legal drama over Lisa Marie’s estate, which was eventually settled with Riley Keough, Lisa Marie’s daughter, as the executor.
“I love her,” Priscilla said. “We have always gotten along. It was a little bit of trying to figure out the will, like you normally do, but Riley and I have always been close.”
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Keough described the turmoil immediately following her mother’s death.
“When my mom passed, there was a lot of chaos in every aspect of our lives,” she said. “Everything felt like the carpet had been ripped out and the floor had melted from under us. Everyone was in a bit of a panic to understand how we move forward, and it just took a minute to understand the details of the situation, because it’s complicated. We are a family, but there’s also a huge business side of our family. So I think that there was clarity that needed to be had.”