Priscilla Presley has opened up about her thoughts before turning off her daughter Lisa Marie's life-support as she’s embroiled in a $50million lawsuit which accuses her of prematurely switching it off.
The former actress and wife of the King of Rock 'n' Roll has been levied with a lawsuit that claims she wanted power over the family name.
The lawsuit claims she 'ultimately wanted to control' both Lisa Marie's trust and Elvis Presley's Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee.
It comes after Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko, former business partners of the ex-wife, filed at the Los Angeles superior court, in a bid to win $50million in damages.
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The pair led Priscilla Presley Partners and are suing the 80-year-old for breach of contract and fraud.
They claim that she knew her daughter Lisa Marie was going to remove her name as the head of her trust, and as the sole heir to Elvis' estate, it would mean that Priscilla wouldn’t get access to the funds.
Kruse and Fialko said that in retaliation, the mother 'pulled the plug within hours of Lisa being admitted' into hospital after she suffered a cardiac arrest in January 2023.
Prior to her death, Priscilla released a statement about her daughter’s care.
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However, hours later, she shared the news of her passing: "It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us. She was the most passionate strong and loving woman I have ever known.”
She added: “We ask for privacy as we try to deal with this profound loss. Thank you for the love and prayers. At this time there will be no further comment.”
"It was the second saddest day of my life, other than losing Elvis,” Priscilla told People of the moment her daughter died. “It took a long time to come to terms with the fact that Lisa was gone.”
In her book, Softly as I Leave You, the mother detailed her thoughts as she had to make the difficult decision to turn off the life support machine.
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“The next thing I remember is the doctor talking to me. He asked me what I wanted him to do. They had restarted Lisa’s heart, but there was no guarantee it would keep beating. I asked the doctor, ‘What kind of life will she have if we keep her on that machine?’,” she recalled asking at the hospital.
The mother claimed the doctor responded that Lisa Marie would have ‘no quality of life at all’, and it was there that she had this one thought: “I thought about my girl, my wild, rebellious, passionate girl, lying in a vegetative state for the rest of her life.”
It was that moment that she chose to take her daughter off life support.
As for the lawsuit’s claims, Priscilla's legal team have denied it all, with her attorney Marty Singer describing it as ‘one of the most shameful, ridiculous, salacious, and meritless’ fillings ever.
He told the New York Post: "This is nothing more than a sad and vicious attempt to falsely tarnish the reputation of an 80-year-old woman in blatant retaliation for bringing a lawsuit to redress the wrongful conduct of Brigitte Kruse, Kevin Fialko, and their co-conspirators.
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"Accusing a grieving mother of contributing to her daughter’s death is not savvy advocacy; it is malicious character assassination, and should be broadly condemned.
"These fabricated claims have absolutely no validity and we are confident this case will be dismissed."
Britt Jones