Priscilla Presley has family on his mind.
Almost three weeks later Lisa Marie PresleyOn the singer’s death, the actress honored her late daughter in a tribute while also expressing her desire to “protect” the singer’s surviving children: daughter Riley Keough and twin girls Finley and Harper Lockwood. (Lisa Marie shared Riley, 33, with her first husband Danny Keough and her twins, 14, with fourth husband Michael Lockwood.)
“Today would have been Lisa’s 55th birthday,” the 77-year-old began in a statement to E! News. “My desire is to protect my three grandchildren and keep our family together.”
Priscilla – who is also the mother of a musician Navarone Garibaldi from her relationship to Marco Garibaldi– continued: “From the first moment I held Lisa in my arms, I have protected, loved and guided her, just as I have my son. Our hearts are broken and I must learn to live without my only daughter.”
Showing her appreciation for the public support since Lisa Marie’s death, the matriarch added, “We truly love you all and we feel your prayers. Thank you for looking after our family so much.”
Lisa Marie Presley and her children through the years
Priscilla’s testimony follows a petition filed by her attorneys questioning the validity of Lisa Marie’s will, which names Riley and her younger sisters as successors to their mother’s trust.
Court documents filed Jan. 28 and obtained by E! News claimed that Priscilla and former executive Barry Seal were given the title of co-custodian in a living will that Lisa Marie drafted in 1993 and added to in 2010.
However, after Lisa Marie’s death on January 12, Priscilla discovered a 2016 change that named Riley and her sisters, as well as Lisa Marie’s son Benjamin Keough, who died by suicide in 2020 – instead as co-trustee. Priscilla’s petition alleged several “issues surrounding the authenticity and validity” of the amendment, including how Lisa Marie “misspelled her mother’s name on the document” and that her handwriting “does not match her customary and customary signature.”
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The petition also said Priscilla never received a copy of the 2016 amendment during Lisa Marie’s lifetime, and urged the court to consider the document “invalid.”
Previously spokesperson for Graceland — the Tennessee home Lisa Marie inherited from her late father in 1993 Elvis Presley‘s estate—told E! News that the 120-acre property will go to Riley and her sisters after their mother’s death.
Lisa Marie was buried on January 22 near the graves of Benjamin and Elvis in Graceland’s Meditation Garden.
E! News reached out to Priscilla, Barry and Riley’s representatives for comment on the petition, but received no response.