All Episodes
Previous Next
Plain Text
Nov. 2, 2023 - Uncensored - Piers Morgan
47:08
20231102_piers-morgan-uncensored-priscilla-presley
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
|

Time Text
Living With A Famous Name 00:04:59
Tonight on Piers Morgan Uncensored, I've come to Beverly Hills in California to sit down with one of America's unofficial royal family.
Priscilla Presley was married to Elvis Presley, the king.
And they had one child, a daughter, Lisa Marie, who very sadly died earlier this year.
This is the first interview that Priscilla's given since that tragic event.
And it's the first time she's talked on camera since the release of a movie about her life called Priscilla.
What followed in more than an hour was one of the most moving.
You know, I lost my mom, then I lost my grandson, and then I lost my daughter.
Emotional.
We're talking.
Revealing that she was feeling almost suicidal herself.
I think so.
And surprising interviews that I've done in my entire career.
Priscilla, first of all, how are you?
I'm okay.
Thank you.
I'm good.
You've had a kind of extraordinary few years, really.
Some great highs, some terrible lows.
And I've interviewed you at various stages in the last 15 years or so.
And before I came today, I was just wondering actually genuinely how you were doing.
Well, in all honesty, you know, it has been pretty tough.
You know, I lost my mom, then I lost my grandson, and then I lost my daughter.
So I don't know exactly how to answer that because I have my good days and I have my bad days.
So, you know, you just, you never know.
And it's, how could I say, it's difficult.
It's difficult to wake up in the morning and not, you know, have a call from my daughter or wonder how my grandson is doing.
It's like a part of your part, but a large part of your life is taken away.
The particular difficulty for someone like you is that you can't do this privately.
Everything is magnified on a global stage.
And there was a quote which really resonated with me.
I suspect it will with you, from Baz Luhrmann, who of course directed Elvis the movie.
And he said, there's the Kennedys and there's the Presleys.
They are the royal families of America.
And in different ways, they both were, as Shakespeare says, wedded to calamity.
Is it genetic?
Is it because they have such high standards?
Is it because the world watches them?
Maybe.
Because to be American royalty is not just to have your country watch you.
To be American royalty is to have the whole world watch you.
Did that resonate with you?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
You know, when you're living a life, you know, I mean, being married to Elvis Presley, you don't really know what you're getting into, especially when you're younger.
And, you know, you have to adapt to not really having your privacy.
Things getting out that you wish didn't.
You start thinking, my gosh, you know, I have to be careful, you know, what I say, or it'll be taken wrong.
Or they'll add on to it.
So it's been a journey, there's no doubt.
There's a movie now about you.
Your centre stage.
It's your life.
It's called Priscilla.
And when they first aired it at the Venice Film Festival, you were there.
And at the end, there's a very moving clip as you get a standing ovation from about seven minutes from an ecstatic crowd and you're in tears at the end.
What was it that moved you in that moment?
For the movie getting that kind of reception, I never, you know, when you have a movie that's about you, you never know how people are going to take it.
You never know if they're going to understand it.
I mean, they have their own, you know, with Elvis, people, you know, that's a big name.
It's a big name.
And I was happy because it had a standing ovation.
I was happy for Sophia.
She was quite nervous about it.
Sophia Coppola is.
Sophia Coppola, right?
Is it an accurate depiction, do you think, not just of you, but of your relationship with Elvis?
I think so.
I think she did a...
She did a, you know, I mean, she did some homework.
I mean, she and I, we talked about it.
And, you know, living with Elvis Presley, people think, oh, how wonderful.
That's great.
It's Elvis Presley.
The Pressures Of Stardom 00:07:21
But I went through the ups and downs with him in a very crucial part of his life.
You know, his ups and downs, his struggles, you know, his fears.
So, you know, when you're living with someone so famous and you've been through it with them, it's that part of privacy that you're, it's hard to give up.
It's hard to share.
It's hard to, you know, I don't want to give out too much because I want some of that myself.
That's just for me.
And actually one of the reasons it's reputed that Elvis loved you so much was that from the very first moments that you were together, even though you were very young and you were at school and we'll come to that, you never spoke about him to people.
You absolutely respected and protected his privacy, even though at the time he was one of the biggest stars in the world.
And that really endeared you to him, the fact that you safeguarded the privacy.
I did.
When I first started dating him, or let's say, you know, he would call to my parents to see if I could come over just on the weekends, you know, maybe Friday, maybe Saturday.
That whole, I mean, part of my life was getting to know him, but the question was, why me?
Why is he drawn to me?
Why is he asking my mother and father if it's okay, if, you know, I would go visit?
And when I put all the pieces together, it's because I really, I was the listener.
I was the one that he trusted more, I think, than anyone.
And I honored that, and I would never give that up.
I never told kids at school that I was seeing him.
No one even knew.
Because I valued that trust.
And I would ask the question, why me?
Why does he trust me?
I was the listener.
He would tell me about how upset he was with his father, who was, who actually, he lost his mother a year before.
He went to the army, and then his father met this woman who had three children.
And he couldn't believe his father, I couldn't believe, yes, that his father would so soon start dating and falling in love.
And then he would pour his heart out to me, get emotional about it because he was so close to his mother.
So I look, the trust factor meant a lot to him, a lot.
And to this day, you know, there are things I hold to my heart and I won't give up.
You never badmouth Elvis.
I've noticed that about you your entire life.
No.
You've never had, even though you got divorced and everything else, you've been an impeccable support to him even decades after his death.
It obviously matters to you a lot.
A lot.
He was a very special human being.
And to be put in the position that he was in, never expecting to be as big as he became.
You know, he just loved his music.
He loved to sing.
He loved to entertain people.
And that's what he started out until much to his surprise, he was received so well.
And I remember being in Las Vegas, and it was always a packed, I mean, literally, he sold out every night.
And he looked in the audience and he'd see it full every single night.
And then he'd go later on and start touring, and there would be sold out every night.
And he said to me, You know, I see all these people coming to see me, and I don't understand why am I to do and be something else.
Is there a message for me that maybe I should be preaching?
Maybe I have a message for people.
And he would bring out the Bible at night sometimes and look and read.
And not that he compared himself to Jesus in any way.
He read the Bible all the time.
It was just him thinking, maybe I'm here for another purpose, a message to give.
And people, you know, when I have said that very rarely, it's something that it weighed on him.
One of the contentious points of the movie is one of the contentious points about your relationship with Elvis, which is when you met him, you were 14 and he was 24.
How do you think the movie deals with that?
Some people who've reviewed it say, well, you can see there, he's grooming her.
Others saying that post-Me Too, he would have been cancelled for this kind of thing.
What do you feel about it?
Because it was a different time.
It was the early 60s.
The early 60s.
And, you know, I compared this to my mother.
My mother, my father was in the military.
My mother would dress up for my father every day when he came home from work.
She was dressed up.
And women were that way.
We were, you know, not that it was just for our men, but we took care of ourselves and we wanted to be, when I say we, I include myself.
We respected, my mother respected my father.
And other women wore dresses back in the day.
They did not wear pants, slacks, jeans.
So that was just the time.
It was, I mean, you know, Elvis was, like I said, he was very unique.
But he was, I don't know about grooming me.
I didn't take it at that.
I never heard the word.
I mean, obviously it's all new now.
But, you know, he loved to take me to beautiful stores to buy me an outfit.
I didn't have any money.
He would take me to the movies every night.
That's when you dressed up.
And he wanted me to look good and not feel bad, that I had jeans, or not jeans, but a little dress that didn't really fit or be suitable for where we were going.
So yes, he would buy clothes for me and love to, and look at, when you see what he wore, he would dress up to a T.
So he wanted me also to be dressed up.
But people today, with the mindset of today, will look back and say it was inappropriate that he would be with a girl of 14.
What do you say to people that think that?
I understand.
I understand.
But I was 14 in Germany and there was always people around and our talks were, yes, private.
But he never, ever, ever was aggressive, nor did he ever make love to me.
I was somehow, like I said earlier, someone he trusted to talk to and pour his heart out.
And famously, you only consummated your... relationship on your wedding night.
Pouring His Heart Out 00:11:18
That's right.
And in fact, that's when Lisa Marie was conceived.
That's right.
That night, and you were 21, I think, when you got married.
No one would believe that, but it's the honest to God truth.
I believe it.
Yep.
I've seen you say that before.
In the movie, again, depending what your mindset is, I think, you could either say, as some people have done, that Elvis comes off as kind of distant, emotionally abusive to a degree, a drug addict.
Obviously, people knew that towards the end of his life.
It would be quite a negative characterization, but other people have said in the same light that you just did about it, that it was a different time and that actually he was also coping with the extraordinary pressures of being the biggest superstar in the world.
Yes.
And that brings with it unique challenges.
He had a lot on his shoulders to take care of, to do.
He had, you know, films that he hated, all of them actually, except the first two.
Really?
Yes.
He was, you know, he felt that he was being a joke, you know, to have this kind of on the beach with girls, girls, girls.
And that's all really what Hal Wallace gave him.
Colonel Parker signed a five-year contract with Hal Wallace and never cared about what kind of movies they were.
Elvis was frustrated at the fact that he couldn't get roles that he wanted.
And Colonel just didn't understand his client at all.
What was he like?
Colonel Burke, yeah.
Colonel.
Did you like the Tom Hanks portrayal in the movie?
Somewhat, but Colonel, I never had a problem with Colonel.
It's just when Colonel Parker interfered with Elvis' choice of songs.
That's when it really, that's part of the movie is when he's upset because Colonel was, you know, trying to change the music and wanting him to sing a different song or talk to a producer and said he should be doing this.
When he got in Elvis' way, that's when Elvis would go to y'all out.
Did you feel Elvis was a controlling influence on you?
Controlling.
I don't think it was controlling.
I never thought about it being controlling.
You were 16 when you first went to Graceland.
17.
17.
I mean, again, a crazy experience for a young teenage woman to suddenly be propelled from a very normal life into this.
Do you remember it vividly, the first few experiences there?
Well, when I first went to Graceland to visit, it was in June of 62, I believe.
And I, no, it was 63.
I was in Vegas in 62.
Okay, 63.
Elvis was there, and he wanted for me to close my eyes when they drove up to the gate.
Because I had heard about Graceland.
He told me all about Graceland, and I would love Graceland.
It's so beautiful.
And I mean, he loved Graceland.
That was his home and the first home he ever bought.
So I closed my eyes and he asked the driver to have the gates open and you could see the beautiful gates and they'd open up.
And the lights were on.
It was so beautiful.
More than what I ever expected.
But he was so proud of it.
And to, not just to me, to show people and to take them around the house and the grounds.
And it was beautiful.
It was a nice moment.
It was a magical place in many ways.
And yet, what comes through from the movie is that he would go off and make his movies.
And while he was away, you were often left for long periods of time on your own in this extraordinary place.
But actually, life there could be quite dull.
You were with Elvis Presley, but life for a lot of the time for you was not wildly exciting at all.
There were a lot of telephone calls.
Right.
He would always call me at five o'clock in the evening and I would wait till the phone call.
Every night.
Yes.
And you'd be there ready.
I'd be there by the phone.
And there's this sort of sense you get in the movie and you get it whenever you read about Elvis.
You would know better than anybody, obviously.
When he walked into a room, energy levels through the roof.
I mean, he was Elvis Presley, the charisma was just crazy.
Even if he wasn't in a great mood, it was still crazy in his charisma.
Do you remember that?
Oh, my God, yes.
He'd walk into the room and it's like, whoa, I mean, he didn't realize, you know, what he had as far as his appearance or what he felt or his charisma.
But there were a few times when he'd kid around and he'd say, damn, I'm good looking.
Kiddingly, when he would be in his bathroom and he'd be getting ready to go somewhere.
But he had a great sense of humor.
Talk about you split from Elvis and you get divorced from Elvis, but you have this little girl, Lisa Marie, and she's your child that you have with Elvis, his only child.
What was that relationship like after the divorce between the three of you, would you say?
Well, because when I left, I wanted, you know, he adored her and I never wanted to take that away from him.
So I made arrangements that on Christmas or holidays or Easter, that she, that he, it was a point that I would send her to Graceland.
Of course, Annanny was there with her.
I would bring her there, that he had time alone with her.
So even in Las Vegas, the same thing.
I wanted them, you know, to be close, which they were.
Was he a good father despite all the problems he was having?
He was as good a father as he could be.
You know, he was never around children.
And, you know, it was, you know, growing up.
So he really, honestly, when she was smaller, he didn't quite know what to do with her.
But as she got a little bit older and a little bit older, and then she could travel, you know, to visit him and be with him for at least two weeks, you know, when there was Christmas or Easter or something, then he became closer to her.
His death was something that shook the entire world.
But for you and your daughter, it must have been a particularly seismic, shocking moment.
Devastating to get a call.
Absolutely devastating.
I had just talked to him the night before, actually.
And I, no, two nights before.
And to get that call, Joe Esposito actually called me and said, Silla, Elvis is dead.
And he was already emotional.
And I just yelled, you know, I thought he was kidding.
You know, you just never imagined that.
We would joke around all the time.
And then when I found out that, you know, it was true, and I just went to my bedroom and just stayed.
And Joe said, send the plane for me, the private plane.
And I just stayed in my room and couldn't believe it and cried.
And I don't know.
It's interesting, even though, this is 50 years ago, pretty much nearly.
Yeah.
But it still has a profound effect on you.
I can still hear Joe Esposito's words.
So, Elvis is dead.
And that was like, I just couldn't imagine him ever, you know, especially, you know, his age and all, being still so young and wanting to do so much and had so much planned and not having him, not having him, not talking to him, not having him be the father of our child.
And what, you know, my big fear was Lisa, you know, and how do I tell her?
And she was only nine at the time.
I have a daughter of 11, and I can't imagine a harder conversation to have.
Right.
How did you tell her?
Well, I just told her we were going to Graceland and we were going to go see Daddy.
But Daddy won't be, you know, Daddy will be resting.
And she just asked me, and she goes, well, resting.
I've never actually told this before because it's been hard.
But I said, well, he's going to go to sleep for a while.
And she goes, will I be able to see him?
And I said, yes, you'll be able to see him.
You'll be able to see him.
And then she sees him.
And I don't think she really quite got it, but because she went out in the golf cart and started, she had a little friend and driving in the golf cart and all around the backyard of Graceland.
So I don't, it didn't really hit her until later.
I can't even imagine, because it was such a huge story for the rest of the world, but for you, this is just, this is real life.
This is your man that you loved, still loved, still loved today.
Still up today, yep.
He was, like I said, he was unique.
He was, his personality was unreal.
He was caring.
He cared for people.
He had, he wondered why him.
And when, I mean, there are stories about him.
I don't know if you ever heard the story about there was a black woman who was looking at a car on Beale Street, a car dealership, and he was looking, he was just driving around, and he saw her looking in the windows at the new cars that were there.
And he told Charlie to stop the car.
He stopped out, and he went over to the woman, and he goes, boy, those are nice cars.
And he said, oh, yes, sir.
They're beautiful.
Look at that.
And he goes, what one do you like?
And she goes, ooh, I like that black one right there.
No, not the blue one right there.
And he goes, really?
Yeah, I kind of like that too.
So then he takes her in and they go in, see the car.
And he says, what do you think?
Oh, that's a beautiful car.
You'll be good in that car, right?
He goes, well, just a minute.
He goes and gets a salesman.
He says, give me the keys to that car.
I'm getting it.
And he gives the keys to her.
And that was a beautiful blue Cadillac, brand new.
That's him.
That's what he would do.
Anyone in trouble, he'd give them money.
Anyone who had, you know, a problem with anything, really, you know, and then couldn't afford it, even with some of the guys who needed medical care, he'd pay for it.
When you've watched Elvis, the movie, and now Priscilla, and it's made you revisit all of these times that you had with him, do you have any part of you that thinks if only I'd done this, this, or this, things could have turned out differently?
Memories Between Mind Pages 00:02:37
You know, I don't know.
I don't think so, because I really, You know, I gave my all to him.
You know, I couldn't, I couldn't change his mind.
I mean, he was strong-minded.
Well, I think he loved you, and you loved him until the day he died.
I mean, that's clear.
Yes.
It was an extraordinary love story.
He would call me all the time.
And it was funny because whoever he was with, he would usually go into his bathroom to make the phone calls.
Do you remember your last conversation with him?
My last conversation, yes, was when Lisa was coming home, that she needed to come home because school was starting.
And Lisa was there during that time.
Yeah.
That was it.
It's very, I mean, it's very poignant for me to talk to you who's, in the end, you're a woman that had this extraordinary life and had this extraordinary relationship with this man.
But here we are, I think he died in 1977, and here we are in 2023.
And I can see the effect he still has on you, just on a personal human level.
There's nothing tabloid or anything about this.
This was a real visceral love affair between you.
I miss him.
I miss him very much.
I miss his words.
I miss his love.
I miss his laugh.
I miss his energy.
I miss the fun times.
I think, you know, you don't really realize the fun times that you're having until you go back and you look at your albums and your pictures and you go, oh my God, we had so much fun.
We did so much.
And, you know, it's still there.
Is there a song that whenever you hear it, you think, for whatever reason, that one song feels?
Memories.
Memories press between the pages of my mind.
Really?
Memories.
Press between the pages of my mind.
Yeah, I do.
I don't listen to them that lot of songs very often because it just, you know, I go into another place.
But I know sometimes I am a little surprised at myself that I still get emotional.
And I still, you know, that love is still there.
It's amazing, really.
Love That Remains Strong 00:02:43
Some people, many people, I think, might go through their entire lives without ever having that feeling.
Well, I think too, I think too, is because he's so present.
He's still so present.
He still affects people, but he, you know, it's like when I go to Vegas sometimes, you know, I think, my God, you go to the Hilton Hotel, you see these big showrooms, and you go, if people, it's never, Vegas has never been the same, I think, I don't think.
There was only one Elvis.
I mean, there are lots of pretenders to the crowd, but there's never been anyone like him.
Right, it's not.
Since he died.
It's true.
You know, in the movie that Sophia did, which he was angry, you know, with Colonel Parker.
And, you know, yes, he was angry, and yes, he threw the chair or whatever, but when he was angry, he would go, especially with Colonel Parker.
He would go into that moment, you know, because he just felt that Colonel was, you know, Colonel was really deceiving him in many ways, that he wasn't giving him what he wanted, and yet he would talk behind his back.
I mean, Sophia was never making that movie to show the bad side of Elvis.
That was a real moment when he was upset with Colonel Parker.
And it showed that he, yes, he had a temper.
Yes, that's what he felt at that moment.
But that didn't mean he was like that all the time, hardly.
But he knew what he wanted, and he didn't want someone to go against him when he knew, and he did.
His instincts were absolutely right.
Yes.
Absolutely right.
So people walk out, oh my God, he's got, oh my God, he was.
No, he was a human being and he had feelings.
And yes, he had a temper.
He didn't show it that much, but when he did, he had every reason to.
When you're out and about, when you get on planes or wherever you may go, how do people react to you?
They're friendly, very friendly.
Someone told me that often they'll clap.
Yes, sometimes they will do.
That's amazing.
I know.
I know.
There's a horrible irony in many ways that it was literally at the moment that the Elvis movie was being fated at the Golden Globes and you attended with Lisa Marie, that within 48 hours of that, she incredibly sadly died in her mid-50s.
Coping With Loss And Grief 00:03:30
What was I read an account that you both went to Chateau Marmont and you were laughing together as a mother and daughter and everything seemed fine.
And then she suddenly said to you that she was having these crippling stomach pains.
Did you fear there was something very bad happening?
Well, she didn't look well that night and I was concerned.
And she asked Jerry Schilling, who is a good friend of mine, one of my best friends, if not the best friend, if he could hold her, her heels were high.
And she's worn them before, and I thought, is she okay?
She didn't really look that okay.
She looked very frail.
So I let that go and then we watched the show and we had a few laughs and we were all excited about Austin Butler and Baz and the movie went so well.
We're proud of them and then we started to go and she said, Mom, you want to go to Chateau Marmont and have a drink?
And I said, sure.
And then we went there and sat down and she said, Mom, I have to go.
My stomach really hurts.
And I go, of course.
You okay?
She goes, yeah, yeah, I really have to go.
And I go, okay, yeah, okay, we'll get the cars now.
And then we walked toward the car, and I hugged her, and she went her way, and I went mine.
And that was that hug was the last hug I gave her.
And it's still shocking that, you know, we don't have her.
I got that call from her ex-husband, Danny, that, you know, I need, that I need to go to the hospital and see Lisa, that she's in the hospital.
And then I thought, oh, my God, you know, this is not the first time, but I never thought that it was the last.
And it was too late.
You didn't see it?
It was too late.
While she was still alive.
Yeah.
I mean, they say that it's the worst possible thing to lose a child.
Given your relationship, how close you were, what you'd been through as a family, it must have been particularly painful, unbearable.
Well, it is, it was unbearable, you know.
I lost my mother, I lost my grandson, and I lost my daughter.
And losing Ben was, that was the hardest thing for her, losing Ben.
Because he took his own life.
He took his own life.
And he was, I mean, he was the love of her life.
That child, she adored him.
She would do anything for him.
Anything.
And we were in Memphis.
We were sitting up in the suite.
And she said, Mom, you know, I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know if I want to be here.
And I go, what are you talking about?
You know, like Ben.
And she'd go on about Ben and how she is still grieving.
And this was a couple of months before.
She was feeling almost suicidal herself.
Honesty Amidst Family Upheaval 00:14:38
I think so.
She really, she was almost like, she wanted to go earlier, but the twins were still young.
Or too young, let's put it that way.
So the twins were, what, 13?
It's so sad.
I know.
Don't talk anymore.
Can you stop the camera, please?
Sorry about that.
No, no, of course.
It could be completely understandable.
Lisa, of course, at one stage was married briefly to Michael Jackson.
Right.
Arguably after Elvis, the other great pop icon has ever been.
Were you concerned about that?
Mm-hmm.
Very.
Yeah, and I was honest with her.
You know, she told me she was seeing him, and, you know, she was seeing him for a little bit, actually.
And then I remember being in Hawaii, and she was, we were walking together on the beach, and she said, Mom, I'm really concerned.
And I go, this is while they were married, and said that, you know, I never see him.
I go, what do you mean you'll never see him?
He's always gone.
I go, where does he go?
And she goes, I don't know.
I don't know where he goes.
He'll call me maybe three or four days later.
I said, well, don't you ask him where he's going?
He goes, he just said, you know, he's around, he has things to do.
And I always felt that, you know, Michael, you know, Jackson, Lisa Presley, and he, you know, loved Elvis or respected Elvis.
So I always felt, excuse me, that having the name, you know, be associated with the name of his daughter.
Yeah, I did.
I was concerned.
I told her.
So maybe that was his main motivation.
I did.
Did you?
I did.
I mean, I know he was a bit fearful of me, and she told me, you know, he's afraid of you.
And I go, what is he afraid of me for?
Why is he afraid?
Why should he be afraid of me?
And she goes, I don't know.
He doesn't think you'll like him.
I said, I've hardly talked to him because he always hides.
We were at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, and I went to see her at her suite, and we're talking, and all of a sudden I said, well, how's Michael?
I said, he's getting dressed.
And I go, okay.
So he pops out really quickly to get his hat that was left on the end table and then rushes back and closes the door.
I said, God, do I scare him that much?
Was it, do you think, because he knew you saw through him a bit?
Yeah, I think he was quite smart, and I think he did.
Yeah.
I think he did.
But she then told me that, you know, they were getting, that she wanted a divorce, and then the rest is history.
Yeah.
Don't get me wrong, I thought he was very talented, truly talented, but I never really got to know him.
And you would have preferred him not to marry your daughter.
Yeah.
I just, because I felt that he was so intrigued about Elvis and, you know, just, you know, here's Lisa and.
Is he with her because she's Lisa or because she's a Presley?
I think more because she was a Presley.
Yeah.
After Lisa died, it was widely reported, obviously, that there was a dispute between you and Riley, her daughter.
And it's all been settled.
Oh, yeah.
And Riley gave an interesting interview to Vanity Fair, and I thought there were some wonderful lines there, I thought, because it really resonated with me for any family, particularly a family like yours, which has all the added outside pressures, and of course, huge amounts of money with the estate and everything else.
And she said, when my mum passed, there was all the chaos in every respect of our lives.
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 moved forward.
And it took a minute to understand the details of the situation because it's complicated.
We're a family, but there's a huge business side of our family.
So I think that there was clarity that needed to be had, and clarity has been had.
And they then asked, are things with grandma happy?
And she said a really interesting response.
Things with grandma will be happy.
They've never not been happy.
She said, I'm trying to think of a way to answer it.
It's not a 20-minute conversation.
There was a bit of an upheaval.
Then she said this about you.
She's a beautiful woman, and she was a huge part of creating my grandfather's legacy in Graceland.
It was very important to her.
He was a love of her life.
Anything that was suggested otherwise in the press makes me sad because at the end of the day, all she wants is to love and protect Graceland and the Presley family and the legacy.
That's her whole life.
It's a big responsibility she's trying to take on.
None of that stuff has ever really been a part of our relationship prior.
She's just been my grandma.
And I thought that was actually a lovely way to describe that.
I never read that.
Wow.
Wow.
I'm going to cry again.
Yeah.
How does that feel?
Oh, my God, I love her.
I mean, we have always gotten along.
I think it was the press that really started all this.
And, you know, it's like, like everything else.
They don't give you, you know, they don't, when something comes out, like, yes, there was a little bit of trying to figure out the will, trying to figure out, you know, like you normally do.
But Riley and I have always been close.
I mean, at the center of it, it seemed quite straightforward that Lisa Marie had changed her will, but hadn't actually told you.
And in changing it, she'd made the executors or trustees of the will were to be her children, which is perfectly understandable.
Absolutely.
You just didn't know.
So when she suddenly dies tragically young and this all comes out, you just were caught blindsided.
That's what it seemed to me.
That's all it was.
That was all it was, you know.
And I think Riley will be great.
She has, you know, asked me a few things about what to do.
And we'll talk about like, I want to help her with Gracelyn.
I mean, she has her own career as well and doing so well.
She's very talented.
She's so talented.
And you're an incredibly talented fan.
Aren't you?
I mean, putting aside all the drama and the heartache and all the other stuff, underpinning it.
It's a lot of very talented people.
Thank you.
In your family.
Thank you.
I think so as well.
Even Ben was quite talented as well, and he had dreams.
But with Riley, I told her anything she needs to know about Graceland, about Elvis, more so about Elvis.
Because she never really took a part of going to Graceland, only on special times, whether it would be Christmas or, you know, we'd all go for, I don't know, for some occasion, not that many times.
But I want her, you know, to know a lot about Elvis, and I'll probably, you know, help her in that way.
She was asked in the interview about this stuff that had been gossiped about, let's put it like that, that there may be some issue about whether you would one day be buried with Elvis at Graceland.
Ben is obviously there.
Lisa Marie's there now.
And she said, as far as she was concerned, absolutely.
Do you want to clear that up?
I mean, how are your feelings about that?
Well, because my feelings are great.
I mean, that's, you know, what I want and wanted.
You'd like to be buried next to us.
Yes.
And that will happen.
Yes.
I think people would like to.
At least right now.
Well, no, obviously, I don't want to be...
No.
No.
I mean, let's hope it's a very long way down the line, but that's settled.
That's nothing to be.
No.
No.
I think, you know, with Riley, she's got a great head on her shoulders.
She really is.
And we've had many talks.
I trust her.
I believe she's capable of taking on some, especially some, you know, some things at Graceland when we have to be there in person together or just her.
And after all, you turned Graceland.
It was losing money.
It was basically going out of business.
You turned it almost single-handedly, actually.
I mean, you had help, but it was your driving force that's turned it into a $100 million a year business.
I mean, it was an amazing achievement that you did there.
I know, I sometimes look back at, how in the world did I do this?
How did you do it?
Elvis would be proud of you.
I just rolled up my sleeves.
Mark would be proud of you.
Yeah, I just rolled up my sleeves and it said it has to be done because it was, I was, I had two, I had Elvis' bookkeeper and his attorney, the three of us were executives.
They didn't know anything about Elvis.
I didn't know his, you know, what he wanted, what he didn't want.
They just took care of business.
And they came to me, this is three years after we got Graceland.
And one of them came to me and said, Priscilla, we're in dire need of money.
We don't have it.
We have to sell Graceland.
And I just looked at him and I said, that will never happen.
He goes, but we're out of money.
I said, that will never happen.
And then I left, and then I just rolled up my sleeves and I went out and asked people who, you know, asked people that I knew, I'm looking for someone to help me do this.
How do I open up the home?
Where do I go?
Who do I go to?
How do I do it?
And then I just met with some top people.
And it's this huge business, but it's also absolutely in the spirit of Elvis because it's being driven by someone that knew what his spirit was.
Right.
Do you ever go to Graceland?
Oh, yes, of course.
What do you feel like when you go there?
I feel like I never left.
Brilliant.
I feel like I never left.
I'd go in the house and sit in the living room and look around and go, my God, so many memories here.
Oh, my God.
I can listen.
I can hear Elvis' laughter.
I can see him playing the piano after we'd come home from the theater or the movies.
And we'd go in the piano room.
And he'd go straight to the piano and I'd sit on the couch and he'd start singing gospel music.
That's all there still.
In the Vanity Fair interview that Riley did, she said this about Lisa Murray, her mum.
The life she had wasn't easy.
The treachery she endure, the lack of real love and real friends.
She definitely had some great friends and relationships, but I don't think she ever really had.
And then she tells us, people were just coming for her since she was born, wanting something from her, not being totally authentic.
She had to develop a thick skin.
She was a very powerful presence, extremely loving, extremely loyal, sort of a lioness, a fierce woman, and a really wonderful mother.
I think that would be my summary because I'm her daughter.
She was the best mum.
When I read that, I mean, you could almost say exactly the same about you.
Wow.
Interesting.
Well, that's a compliment.
Thank you.
It is.
And I just think it's to try and exist in the goldfish bowl that you've had to do, that Lisa had to do, that all the family have had to do.
You have to have a thick skin.
You have to be a bit of a lioness.
And none of us are thick-skinned, and then we have to be.
That's true.
It is true.
I mean, I chose to be very private.
I really, I'm not out there that much.
I enjoy my friends, my family, what I have left, and live a normal life.
How do you feel?
Now we're coming to the end of this.
Actually, what's been an extraordinarily revealing interview, far more than I anticipated.
Me too.
How do you feel?
I don't know.
Maybe I talk too much.
I don't know.
I'm a little nervous.
Well, I don't know.
I've talked about things I've never talked about before.
I'm at a time in my life where I'm willing to share in you.
I trust you.
And I've always liked your, you know, your interviews that you've had with different people.
And I hope it comes out okay.
I'm sure it will.
I think people will feel the same way that I do.
Which is, you're a remarkable person.
He's had a remarkable life.
And I'm glad you have a movie now which is about you and your life.
Because I think in many ways it's hugely significant and has been hugely significant to not just Elvis when he was alive, but also preserving his legacy since he died.
I think you've played such a massive part in that.
And that's one of the reasons that he remains today so revered, I think, is because the work and determination you've had to keep the Elvis flag flying.
And I hope this movie, I mean, I don't want anyone, I know there's a few comments on him being angry.
My God, he's a human being.
He's a human being.
And an artist.
And an artist, absolutely.
But he, you know, Elvis was, I've never met anyone like him, and I don't think I ever will again, ever.
He had a biggest heart.
He had a great sense of humor.
He had a lot of love.
He could be a little kid, you know, when he wanted to.
He loved to be babied.
And he just, there's no one like him.
And the fact that he still has fans, he would never believe that.
He would never believe it, ever, that he still has fans.
And they're everywhere.
And they're everywhere.
But there'll never be anyone like him, ever.
Priscilla, what a privilege to sit with you for the last hour.
Thank you very much for being so open with me.
Export Selection