The Night Lisa Marie Felt Abandoned by Priscilla After Elvis’ Death…You Won’t Believe What Happened

Elvis Presley’s death in 1977 was a traumatic event that left everyone close to him reeling — none more so than his daughter, Lisa Marie Presley. Just nine years old at the time, Lisa Marie was thrust into a world of grief and uncertainty. But one particular night after Elvis’s passing, Lisa Marie’s emotional distress reached a breaking point. She felt abandoned by the one person who was supposed to offer her comfort: her mother, Priscilla Presley.

In the aftermath of Elvis’s death, Priscilla, who had been divorced from Elvis in 1973, was left to manage the Presley estate and take care of Lisa Marie. However, Priscilla’s attention was often divided, managing the business side of things while dealing with her own grief. Lisa Marie, already struggling with the loss of her father, began to feel neglected and isolated by her mother’s focus on running Graceland and the Presley empire.

One of the most heartbreaking moments occurred one evening when, feeling alone and distraught, Lisa Marie went to Priscilla for comfort. Lisa Marie later revealed in interviews that Priscilla, overwhelmed by the demands of her new responsibilities and her own emotional weight, was not as available to her daughter as she needed her to be. The lack of emotional support at this pivotal time left Lisa Marie feeling abandoned and unimportant.

The real turning point came when Priscilla had to travel to Los Angeles for work shortly after Elvis’s death. Priscilla, needing to take care of the estate and the family’s future, was not around to console Lisa Marie in the way she desperately needed. During this time, Lisa Marie felt a deep sense of abandonment, particularly after her mother’s absence on her birthday just weeks later.

In interviews, Lisa Marie later reflected on those years with a mixture of pain and understanding. She explained how the sudden shift in dynamics—losing her father and seeing her mother preoccupied with new responsibilities—left her feeling emotionally adrift. “I was left to navigate this world on my own,” she said in one interview, adding that during those early years after Elvis’s death, she never felt that Priscilla fully recognized her need for emotional closeness.

Priscilla, for her part, has acknowledged the strain and has explained that she was doing what she thought was best for their future by focusing on the business side of things. She said that the pressures of managing Elvis’s estate and ensuring Lisa Marie’s well-being sometimes made it difficult to balance personal emotions and responsibilities.

The Road to Healing

Over time, Lisa Marie came to terms with her feelings of abandonment, though the early years without Elvis were undoubtedly difficult. As Lisa Marie grew older, she and Priscilla were able to work through their issues and rebuild their relationship. In the years that followed, they became incredibly close, with Priscilla always by her side during Lisa Marie’s own struggles, including her own marriages and children.

The night that Lisa Marie felt abandoned by Priscilla, however, remains a poignant reminder of the emotional complexity that followed Elvis Presley’s death. While Priscilla was focused on keeping the Presley legacy intact, Lisa Marie, like any child, just needed the love and comfort of her mother. In the end, their bond survived the turbulence of their early years, but for Lisa Marie, the pain of feeling neglected in the wake of her father’s death never truly went away.