Inside the toxic row between Elvis Presley’s ex Priscilla and his granddaughter Riley over who should inherit Graceland
WHEN Elvis Presley’s daughter Lisa Marie died in January, it should have brought her loved ones closer together.
Instead, the grieving family have been broken apart by a bitter row between Lisa’s mum Priscilla and her daughter Riley Keough.
Actress Riley, 33, is the oldest of Lisa Marie’s four children and one of two she had with first husband Danny Keough.
She is said to have been upset when her grandmother Priscilla, 77, arrived at the funeral with Michael Lockwood, Lisa’s fourth husband and dad to her 14-year-old twin girls Harper and Finley.
Sources say it was the “last thing” Lisa would have wanted.
Their bitter divorce had only been finalised six months before her death,
Weeks later, Priscilla — who was married to Elvis from 1967 to 1973 — launched a legal bid to wrest control of Elvis’s estate from Riley, who inherited it after her mum died from a heart attack at the age of 54.
The lawsuit questions the “authenticity and validity” of Lisa’s decision to remove Priscilla as a trustee of the Presley estate in 2016 and replace her with Riley and her brother Benjamin, who died in 2020.
The trust owns Elvis’s old home, the Graceland mansion, in Memphis, Tennessee, and a 15 per cent stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises, which together brought in a reported £90million last year.
Adding to the row are rumours Priscilla had been locked out of Graceland, something the management of the estate deny.
The feuding pair are now barely on speaking terms and friends close to Riley — who stars in new Prime Video drama Daisy Jones & The Six — say she is devastated by the rift.
A source said: “She is heartbroken that this has turned into a public matter and knows her mother would never want this.
“Riley is very stressed and has been trying to keep a positive attitude.”
The row dates back to a vicious five-year custody battle between Lisa Marie and Michael Lockwood, who split in 2016.
Lisa, whose ex-husbands include Michael Jackson and actor Nicolas Cage, married guitarist Michael in 2006. Their twins were born two years later.
Their split sparked a brutal war of words, with Michael, 61, dragging her long battle with drink and drugs through the courts.
War of words
Lisa was Elvis’s only daughter.
She was just nine when he died in 1977 and she inherited Graceland and Elvis Presley Enterprises on her 25th birthday in 1993.
After the birth of her twins in 2008 she became addicted to painkillers, which she revealed in the foreword to 2019 book The United States Of Opioids, writing: “(It’s) a difficult path to overcome this dependence, and to put my life back together.”
She added: “As I write this, I think of my four children, who gave me the purpose to heal. (I’m) grateful to be alive today . . . and to have four beautiful children who have given me a sense of purpose that has carried me through dark times.”
During their toxic divorce, Michael demanded £216,000 in spousal support to “enjoy a lifestyle closer to my marital status of living”.
And he accused Scientologist Lisa of using the church to keep him from his daughters.
In return, Lisa Marie filed for sole custody of the twins and alleged her husband had indecent images of children on his computer.
Priscilla’s lawsuit questions the ‘authenticity and validity’ of Lisa’s decision to remove her as a trustee of the Presley estate in 2016 and replace her with Riley.
Police investigated and found no evidence to back up this allegation.
Caught in the crossfire, the twins were taken to live with their grandmother Priscilla — and the family were furious she seemed to take Michael’s side.
When Lisa’s son Benjamin — younger brother of Riley — died aged 27 in 2020 after shooting himself at the family home in California, Michael filed a fresh bid for custody of the twins, claiming the grief would plunge his ex-wife back into addiction.
The judge threw out his claims and praised Lisa for overcoming her problems.
Awarding joint custody, the judge added that the couple’s constant rows were more detrimental to the children.
As well as marital woes, Lisa Marie also seemed to be suffering financial hardship. In her divorce papers she said she owed £13million in unpaid taxes.
In 2018 she sued business manager Barry Siegel, claiming he had mismanaged her finances, resulting in her £85million trust fund shrinking to £11,500.
Priscilla blamed her daughter’s financial trouble on a 2005 deal to sell 85 per cent of Elvis Presley Enterprises to entertainment giant CKX for a reported £80million, leaving her with just 15 per cent.
But last year, as they joined the publicity trail for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic, starring Austin Butler, Priscilla and her daughter appeared to have left the fallout behind them.
And on her daughter’s death, on January 12 this year, Priscilla paid tribute to, “The most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known”.
But close friends revealed the pair were barely speaking before Lisa’s death and, when Priscilla shared a plane to Memphis with Michael ahead of the January 22 funeral at Graceland, Riley was deeply upset
A source told Entertainment Tonight: “Riley was always on her mum’s side when it came to Michael. It bothered her that her grandmother and Michael flew to the funeral together.”
She was also said to be worried and “very protective” of half-sisters Finley and Harper, who are now living with their dad
Before their mum’s death, the girls divided their time between their dad’s £650,000 California home and the £3.4million mansion Lisa Marie shared with first husband Danny Keough, 54, who was still close to his ex.
“Riley has always been close with her sisters,” the source said.
“She wants the best for them. They have been surrounded by drama.”
During a touching tribute at Lisa’s funeral, Riley revealed that she had recently become mum to a baby daughter herself — Elvis’s first great-grandchild.
In a letter to her mum read by her stuntman husband Ben Smith-Petersen, she wrote: “I hope I can love my daughter the way you loved me, the way you loved my brother and my sisters. Thank you for giving me strength, my heart, my empathy, my courage, my sense of humour, my manners, my temper, my wildness, my tenacity.”
At the time, the family appeared to be over the hostilities that had come to a head in 2016 when it emerged Lisa Marie had changed the terms of her will to leave everything to her four children and named Riley and Benjamin as co-executors, replacing Priscilla and Barry Siegel.
‘Surrounded by drama’
Priscilla recently asked a judge to invalidate the amendment, claiming she had not been informed of the changes as required by the terms of the trust and suggesting her daughter’s signature could have been forged.
But a friend of Lisa Marie told People mag: “There’s zero question that Lisa wanted Riley and Ben to be the trustees — and for all her children to be the beneficiaries.
“Priscilla doesn’t want Riley solely in charge because then she has no say. Meanwhile, Riley doesn’t want Priscilla to butt in.”
As tensions grew, the reports emerged this week that Priscilla had been locked out of Graceland, although the management of the house said: “No locks at Graceland have been changed since Lisa Marie’s passing.”
Priscilla was further infuriated when Joel Weinshanker, a partner in Elvis Presley Enterprises, backed Riley in the battle.
He said: “When Elvis passed away he left everything to his little girl.
He did so knowing that she would be the one to keep his legacy going.” Priscilla hit back, accusing him of buying his way into the family enterprise.
Meanwhile, Michael Lockwood has asked to be appointed as legal guardian representing the twins’ interests in the trust battle.
The family row is set to come before a court on April 13.
Sources say “heartbroken” Riley is trying to get over the pain of losing her mum by focusing on being a mum to her new baby.
But the bad blood between actress and grandmother will not make the grieving process any easier.