Even as Priscilla Presley has seen two different filmmakers making movies about her family in the past couple of years, with last year’s Elvis and the forthcoming Priscilla, the pop culture icon in her own right had to navigate personal tragedy. Now, she’s opening up about the sudden and heartbreaking loss of the only daughter she shared with her husband, Lisa Marie, earlier this year.
At the age of 54, Lisa Marie succumbed to a small-bowel obstruction that ended up taking her life. What’s especially tragic about this is that the symptoms from her ailment became apparent amid the glitz and glamour of an award ceremony celebrating the Elvis film, with Priscilla later recounting, “I did know there was something not right.”
As Priscilla explained to The Hollywood Reporter, January 10 of this year was a night of mother-daughter bonding during the same evening that Austin Butler won Best Actor at the Golden Globe Awards. Still in the afterglow of the ceremony honoring Baz Luhrmann’s film, the pair went to Chateau Marmont to celebrate.
“We had just gotten there, you go down all these stairs […] I tripped a little bit because I had these high heels on, and she started laughing so hard. I started laughing. We hadn’t even had a drink yet. She goes, ‘Oh my God, Mom, you can’t even have a drink.’ … It was fun, a fun memory. Then we sat down and ordered drinks, and she says, ‘Mom, my stomach hurts really bad.’ We immediately got up and left.”
Two short days after what by all accounts started as a warm evening of familial camaraderie, Lisa Marie’s husband, Danny Keough, called Priscilla to let her know her daughter was in the hospital.
“I got right in the car, but she was already gone […] I still can’t believe it. I don’t wish this on any mother.”
It is a shame that the back-to-back filming of two different movies about the Presley family would be marred with such an unbelievable loss. Even still, Priscilla, which focuses on the biography of the King of Rock’s dedicated life partner from her perspective, is set to bring a more grounded take on the family from director Sophia Coppola. It also has the blessing and active participation of Priscilla herself.
The A24-produced Priscilla comes to theaters on October 27.