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Presley Family Feud Reignites: Elvis’s Cousin Challenges Priscilla’s Memoir
The enduring saga of the Presley family continues to unfold in the public eye, as a new memoir by Elvis Presley’s former wife, Priscilla Presley, faces staunch opposition from within the family ranks. Priscilla’s recently debuted book, Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, offers a detailed account of the challenges she, Elvis, and their late daughter Lisa Marie Presley reportedly endured following their divorce and the iconic singer’s untimely death.
In her memoir, Priscilla makes various assertions concerning Elvis’s family, his alleged prescription pill use, and even delves into abuse claims made by Lisa Marie against a former boyfriend. The book has garnered praise for its “raw honesty” in depicting life after fame.
However, Elvis’s cousin, Donna Presley, has publicly challenged Priscilla’s narrative, asserting that her version of events surrounding Graceland is a significant departure from the truth. In a recent video statement, Donna meticulously dissected several of Priscilla’s claims, alleging that the memoir is a deliberate attempt to “remove” Elvis’s family from the central narrative of his life.
“I will not tolerate her continued erasing of the family, nor her efforts to silence the Presleys,” Donna declared. “I will rebuke it every time with truth, with evidence, and with the weight of lived experience.”
Donna, the daughter of Nash Presley—Elvis’s father Vernon’s youngest sister—states she spent summers at Graceland from a young age and later resided on the property when her father began working for Elvis. This proximity, she claims, provides her with an intimate understanding of the family’s history.
“I have stayed silent with regard to Priscilla, but there comes a time when a person takes a step too far,” Donna explained. “I knew her from the very beginning…
I saw and heard many things I have chosen not to reveal. I know exactly who she is.”
Among Donna’s key rebuttals are claims that Priscilla’s statements about the family’s absence at Graceland are false, that she deliberately altered dates of significant family moments, and that she “discredited” Lisa Marie’s abuse claims. Donna also vehemently denied that Elvis was a drug addict, suggesting Priscilla has consistently sought to “portray closeness with her family in her books but publicly disgraces them by speaking ill of Elvis.”
Donna further accused Priscilla of a long-standing pattern of diminishing Elvis’s memory. “In the years after Elvis died, Priscilla continued with the same tactics…
She would smile, soften her voice, say something pleasant, and then in the same breath deliver something cutting and demeaning about Elvis,” she stated. “It was veiled in charm, wrapped in a performance of sweetness.
But what followed desecrated his memory… Those attacks scarred our family.”
This latest dispute comes in the wake of another family contention: the battle for control of Graceland following Lisa Marie Presley’s death in 2023. Lisa Marie’s will left her estate to her three daughters, including actress Riley Keough.
Priscilla reportedly contested the will’s validity, challenging Keough’s appointment as co-trustee. The disagreement ultimately concluded with Keough becoming the sole trustee, while Priscilla received a $1 million lump-sum payment and a $100,000 annual salary for an advisory role related to Elvis Presley Enterprises.
For Donna Presley, the family drama is far from resolution. “I had prayed that time would bring wisdom, that age would bring peace.
But she has not stopped,” Donna lamented. “Even now she still claims Elvis was the love of her life.
What kind of love humiliates a man in death, undermines his daughter, and wounds his family? Love does not do this.”
She concluded with a resolute pledge: “And so I stand, the last of my line, unbowed and fighting for the honor of Elvis, for his daughter, and for my family. The time for silence is over.”