Priscilla Presley has hit back at speculation she and granddaughter Riley Keough aren’t on “good terms” following a legal dispute over Graceland.
Earlier this year, it was reported that the Daisy and The Six actress, 33, and Priscilla had been engaged in a dispute over the property following the death of Lisa Marie at the age of 54 from a heart attack in January.
Four days after Lisa Marie’s funeral, her mother Priscilla filed court documents disputing the “authenticity and validity” of a 2016 amendment to her living trust.
The amendment removed Priscilla and a former business manager as trustees and replaced them with her two eldest children – Riley and Benjamin Keough, who died in 2020.
In response, Keough submitted a petition to her filing and was eventually named as the sole trustee of her mother’s estate during a hearing earlier this month.
Discussing the reports as a result of legal battle, the 77-year-old insisted that speculation about a family feud couldn’t be further from the truth.
During a conversation with Sofia Coppola for the Hollywood Reporter, ahead of the release of their Priscilla movie, she shared: “Riley is now the executor, which should be right, obviously, being her daughter. Riley and I are on good terms. We were never not on good terms. That was all publicity.
“This is private and this is not something to fool around with and say that we’re not agreeing. In fact, I’m having dinner with [Riley] tonight.
“We understand what needs to be done. I’m there for her. She knows that. She wants me there for her to help her.”
Keough previously acknowledged the furore with Vanity Fair and agreed with her grandmother’s sentiments, sharing: “Things with Grandma will be happy. They’ve never not been happy.
“She was a huge part of creating my grandfather’s legacy and Graceland. He was the love of her life.
“Anything that would suggest otherwise in the press makes me sad because, at the end of the day, all she wants is to love and protect Graceland and the Presley family and the legacy.”
We understand what needs to be done. I’m there for her. She knows that. She wants me there for her to help her
Priscilla and Riley agreed to a settlement regarding Lisa Marie’s trust in May, with the paperwork approved in a recent hearing.
Keough was officially named as sole trustee by judge Lynn Healey Scaduto during a hearing at Los Angeles Superior Court while Priscilla will serve as a special advisor to the trust, and has permission to be buried at Graceland.
Earlier this month, a Los Angeles coroner ruled that Lisa Marie had died of complications from weight-loss surgery she had several years ago.
Her death was ruled as being from natural causes due to the effects of a small bowel obstruction.
