Elvis Presley was devoted to his only daughter, Lisa Marie Presley. He cherished the time when Lisa lived at Graceland full-time before he and her mother, Priscilla Presley, divorced. After they split, Lisa spent her childhood with her father at Graceland on vacations and holidays. However, some of these visits caused strife between the king of rock and roll and Priscilla, who believed Elvis spoiled Lisa Marie a little too much for her liking.
According to Lisa Marie Presley, she was allowed the run of Elvis Presley’s Graceland home
On CBS’ The Talk, Lisa Marie revealed that Elvis was not a strict parent. She told the show’s hosts, “He and I spent a lot of time together upstairs; the upper part of Graceland is his and my room. That’s when I got to be with him. He’d set up a little chair in my room and a TV.”
Asked if Elvis was a strict father, Lisa Marie laughed: “He was not strict at all! My mom was the opposite; she was strict.”
Lisa Marie remembered: “He would sleep all day, so me and my friends pretty much had the run of Graceland. And I knew nobody would tell me what to do because they would get fired. I was truly a terror, to be honest.”
Elvis’ lax parenting of Lisa Marie caused problems for Priscilla, who tried to give her young daughter an everyday life outside of her ex-husband’s flamboyant lifestyle. This conflict caused Elvis to clap back at Priscilla over how he treated Lisa Marie.
Elvis Presley clapped back at Priscilla Presley’s claims he ‘spoiled’ Lisa Marie too much
Billy Smith, Elvis Presley’s cousin, shared a conflict between the king of rock and roll and Priscilla regarding their differences in parenting Lisa Marie on his Elvis Fans Matter YouTube channel.
“At Graceland, she had pulled a tooth, and boy, she was just yelling,” Billy explained. “She runs in there, telling [Elvis], ‘Daddy, Daddy! I pulled a tooth!’ And he said, ‘Oh, that’s good, Lisa. Let me see, oh yeah, you’ve got a little gap there, but they’re going to come back, and it’ll come back better.’”
The story goes that Lisa Marie put her tooth under her pillow, and Elvis put a $10 bill while she was sleeping. The little girl reportedly ran to her father and asked him to take her to the store so she could spend her tooth fairy money.
This extravagance reportedly upset Priscilla, who told Elvis he was spoiling Lisa Marie. Billy revealed Priscilla reportedly only gave the little girl a quarter or 50 cents for a lost tooth.
Billy revealed Elvis told Priscilla, “Look, let me tell you something, I don’t know the damn going rate for a Tooth Fairy. You give her what you want to, and I’ll give her what I want to, and that’s the way it is.”
Lisa Marie Presley always felt safe with her father at Graceland
In a YouTube interview with Jezebel, Lisa Marie revealed that Elvis’ bedroom was where she went to find solace. At the 4:55 mark, she discusses Elvis’ private upstairs quarters.
“It’s the one place I feel the safest,” she admitted. “I keep the key for upstairs with me. Up there is just his [Elvis’] room and my room. It was his sanctuary. I can shut that door and feel the safest and the calmest I can feel.”
Lisa Marie revealed the area is “the same” as when Elvis left it. However, it still had a lot of Elvis’ flair for the flamboyant and reflected the decorating tastes of the 1970s.
The king of rock and roll’s only child admitted: “Oh, it’s showy! It’s got a long shag carpet, a black bed, and red walls. Gold everything here and there.”
Lisa Marie always returned to Graceland with her family, which grew to include four children: daughter Riley, son Benjamin, and daughters Finley and Harper. They shared holidays at the mansion and enjoyed the estate after hours when public tours were done for the day, allowing Lisa to relax in her family home.
Lisa Marie Presley died on Jan. 12, 2023, of a heart attack at her California home. She is buried at Graceland’s meditation garden alongside Benjamin, who died in 2020.
