Sad Details About Lisa Marie Presley's Early Life In Tennessee

One would think that the child of one of the most famous musicians of all time would live nothing but a happy, lavish life. And while Lisa Marie Presley — daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley — certainly had her share of ups in her time, the Princess of Rock n' Roll also had more than her fair share of downs.

Like her father, Lisa Marie Presley brought music into the world — releasing three studio albums between 2003 and 2012. She also became well known for her charitable work, particularly when she aided with the relief effort in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. However, prior to her tragic death at the age of 54 in 2023, Lisa Marie also had to contend with short-lived marriages (including a particularly tumultuous one to Michael Jackson), opioid addiction, and the heartbreaking death of her own son in 2020.

Lisa Marie's hardships did not start when she was an adult. Unfortunately, much of the tragedy she faced in her life dates back to her childhood and teenage years in her home state of Tennessee.

There was only a brief period in her life when Lisa Marie Presley's parents were married — and an even briefer period where they were truly together. Lisa Marie was born on February 1, 1968 — nine months to the day after her parents wed in May 1967. For much of their marriage, however, Elvis and Priscilla largely lived separate lives. The two ultimately filed for divorce in mid-1972, and it was finalized in late 1973 — when Lisa Marie was only 5 years old. From that point forward, Lisa Marie had to split her time between living with her father in Tennessee and living with her mother in California.

Despite how turbulent their marriage could often be, Elvis and Priscilla remained friends after their divorce. Priscilla never remarried, but did date a computer programmer named Marco Garibaldi from 1984 to 2006. While the two never tied the knot, they did have a son together early into their 22-year relationship. Navarone Garibaldi was born in March 1987 (one month after his half-sister Lisa Marie turned 19), and would go on to front the rock band Them Guns. Elvis also never remarried, as tragedy would strike just four years after he and Priscilla divorced.

Elvis Presley passed away on August 16, 1977 at the age of 42. Years of prescription pill abuse had caught up to the rock n' roll legend, with his death being ruled a heart attack stemming from a combination of drugs in his system that caused an irregular heartbeat. To make matters worse, Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie was only 9years old at the time of his death — and was there when it happened.

Lisa Marie was never the same after her father died. She recalled the day of his death in her memoir "From Here to the Great Unknown," which was published posthumously in 2024. "I ran to him, but somebody grabbed me, pulled me back. They were trying to work on him," she wrote (via People). "I was screaming bloody murder. I knew it was not good." Lisa Marie also recalled hearing her grandfather Vernon Presley — Elvis' dad — "wailing" in grief. "That noise. I'll never get past that sound of him wailing," she wrote. "I could hear, 'Oh he's gone. He's gone.'"

In a 2024 interview with BBC, Lisa Marie's own daughter Riley Keough — who helped her mother finish her memoir — opened up about how just deeply Elvis' death affected his only child. "It was totally devastating to her," Keough said. "I think that she, in some ways, spent her life grieving. ... It definitely dictated her life and her story."

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Lisa Marie Presley was only 9 years old when her father passed away — and unfortunately, that wouldn't be the last time she had to deal with a death in the family while she was still a child. After Elvis died, Lisa Marie became one of three heirs to his estate. The other two were the aforementioned Vernon Presley — Elvis' father — and Minnie Mae Presley — Vernon's mother.

Just two years after she lost her father, Lisa Marie lost her grandfather as well. Vernon died in 1979, when he was 63 years old and Lisa Marie was 11. Lisa Marie's great-grandmother Minnie Mae died just one year later at the age of 89, leaving Lisa Marie as the sole heir to Elvis' estate. However, the heiress to the throne of rock n' roll wasn't able to claim her inheritance until she turned 25 in February 1993.

Several years later, in 2004, Lisa Marie sold about 85% of Elvis Presley Enterprises in a deal was worth over $100 million.

One of the tragic details about the Presley of the family is that his daughter began to go own a similar path when she was just a teenager. However, Lisa Marie Presley claimed that, unlike her father, she was never actually "addicted" to drugs.

"I did drugs for four years of my life, from 13 to 17," Lisa Marie told Rolling Stone in 2003 (when she was 35). "I was never addicted to anything. I was just on self-destructo mode." At the time, Lisa Marie said she used all kinds of drugs when she was younger, but drew the line at mushrooms and heroin. She also claimed that she never saw her own drug use as a reflection of her father. "I didn't think like that," she said. "Maybe it was to scare the hell out of my mother, if anything. ... I was really into showing her how not happy I was."

Lisa Marie stopped using illicit drugs when she turned 18. However, she would eventually have to contend with an opioid addiction that began in her early 40s. While recovering from childbirth in 2008, Lisa Marie developed a dependency on a prescription medication she was receiving. "It only took a short-term prescription of opioids in the hospital for me to feel the need to keep taking them," she wrote in the 2019 book "The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain" (via People).

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

One of the most shocking revelations from Lisa Marie Presley's memoir "From Here to the Great Unknown" is that her mother's ex-boyfriend, actor and model Michael Edwards, allegedly sexually abused her when she was a child.

Priscilla Presley began dating Edwards in 1978 (the year after Elvis passed away), when Lisa Marie was 10. Priscilla and Edwards broke up when Lisa Marie was 16. Edwards himself recounted the experience in his 1988 book "Priscilla, Elvis, and Me." In the book, Edwards bizarrely admitted to being sexually attracted to Lisa Marie while he was with Priscilla. The other shoe dropped in 2003, when Lisa Marie told Playboy (via Elvis Australia) that Edwards would attempt to enter her room and be "inappropriate" with her while he was drunk.

Lisa Marie went into further detail in her 2024 memoir, alleging that Edwards molested her (or attempted to molest her) in her sleep on multiple occasions from when she was 10 to when she was 13. An 80-year-old Edwards denied the allegations in a 2024 statement to Page Six. He also claimed that his initial comments in his own 1988 memoir had been embellished at the behest of his publisher.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).