Priscilla Presley and her granddaughter Riley Keough quietly reached a settlement regarding their legal dispute over Lisa Marie Presley‘s estate in May after months of back and forth.
It wasn’t until June, however, that details over the settlement’s clauses emerged, and then in August, after the agreement was finalised in court, Keough finally broke her silence over what, exactly, had been happening between them.
“When my mum passed, there was a lot of chaos in every aspect of our lives,” Keough told Vanity Fair in a lengthy profile.
“Everything felt like the carpet had been ripped out and the floor had melted from under us. Everyone was in a bit of a panic to understand how we move forward, and it just took a minute to understand the details of the situation, because it’s complicated.”
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“We are a family, but there’s also a huge business side of our family. So I think that there was clarity that needed to be had,” Keough continued.
As for whether things with her grandmother are now happy following months of speculated tension, Keough said: ”Things with Grandma will be happy. They’ve never not been happy.”
“I’m trying to think of a way to answer it that’s not a 20-minute conversation,” she added.
“There was a bit of upheaval, but now everything’s going to be how it was. She’s a beautiful woman, and she was a huge part of creating my grandfather’s legacy and Graceland. It’s very important to her. He was the love of her life.”
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“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. That’s her whole life,” Keough added.
Keough continued: “So it’s a big responsibility she has tried to take on. None of that stuff has really ever been a part of our relationship prior. She’s just been my grandma.”
Priscilla Presley’s statement after settlement with Riley Keough reached
“My family has resolved all confusion as it relates to our plea to the court and request for document interpretation after my daughter Lisa Marie’s untimely passing,” Priscilla said in a statement to People following the May 2023 settlement.
“Although some media identified such a plea as a lawsuit, I want to make clear that there was never any lawsuit filed against my beloved granddaughter.”
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“As a family, we are pleased that we resolved this together,” Priscilla’s statement continued.
“My family and I hope that everyone will grant us the privacy we have needed to properly grieve Lisa Marie and spend personal time together. We love and appreciate all of you and the Presley family is stronger than ever.”
Both parties’ attorneys emphasised in May that “everyone is happy” with the settlement, and at the time, it was believed Keough was made the official beneficiary of her mother’s trust, and Priscilla reportedly walked away with a hefty sum of money because of it.
The exact details of the settlement, however, were not officially made public, with a motion to seal filing deadline being set by the judge for both parties for June 12 – but when that June 12 deadline passed, and Keough filed her documents for approval, the nitty gritty of the settlement came out, all if which were later confirmed after a final hearing officially closed the matter in early August.
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According to People, who obtained legal documents from the secret settlement, Lisa Marie’s half-brother Navarone Garibaldi Garcia – who is the son of Elvis Presley‘s ex-wife Priscilla and film producer Marco Garibaldi – has been granted 1/9 of his late half-sister’s trust.
Keough has, per the documents, become the sole trustee of her late mother’s estate, and she has also become the trustee of the sub-trusts for her 14-year-old twin sisters, Harper and Finley Lockwood, who were born to Lisa Marie and her ex-husband Michael Lockwood in 2008.
It’s also understood Priscilla is the trustee of her 36-year-old son’s 1/9 sub-trust, according to the documents.
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How much Riley Keough has to pay Priscilla Presley
TMZ reported in May that Priscilla got “millions” from her daughter’s estate in the settlement, though neither Priscilla nor Keough confirmed or denied the reports.
It wasn’t until June 15 that the public became aware of any sort of dollar figure – per People, which claimed to have obtained court documents from the secret settlement, Keough had to pay Priscilla $US1 million (approx. $2.1 million) when she became sole trustee.
According to the outlet, almost all mentions of the payment are redacted in court documents filed on June 12, but one line “deep” in the 95-page tome indicated a specific price tag.
Keough also reportedly has been ordered to pay Priscilla an additional $US400,000 (approx. $600,000) for legal fees and costs, which will come “at the same time as the one million payment as stated in Paragraph 6 of this Agreement.”
Paragraph 6 mentions a sum Keough will pay Priscilla ”within 10 days after Riley’s receipt of the life insurance proceeds”, though the figure is redacted. In exchange for Priscilla resigning as trustee, when Keough receives the proceeds from Lisa Marie’s life insurance policy, that’s when she’ll issue the payment.
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Days before the May 16 (in the early hours of May 17 in Australia) hearing, Priscilla, 77, once again denied rumours of a feud with her 33-year-old granddaughter, calling speculation surrounding such “a bunch of B.S.”
When accosted by paparazzi inside an airport on May 14, per Fox News, Priscilla indicated fans should “not believe what [they’re] reading” and that she and Keough are on good terms.
Priscilla’s comments came weeks after both she and Keough skipped the first hearing regarding their battle over the late Lisa Marie’s trust, which saw the late singer’s ex-husband Michael Lockwood named guardian at litem over Lisa Marie’s youngest daughters, 14-year-old twins Finley and Harper Lockwood, regarding their late mother’s will.
It’s a legal battle that came as a shock to many following Lisa Marie’s sudden death aged 54 on January 12, and it was the death of Elvis Presley‘s only child that sparked the case in more ways than one.
At the crux of it, Priscilla and Keough were fighting for control of Lisa Marie’s trust, and by extension, Elvis’ Memphis estate, Graceland– but it wasn’t until January 12 that Priscilla found out she had something to fight over in the first place.
Why were Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough fighting over Lisa Marie Presley’s will?
When Elvis died aged 42 following a cardiac arrest in 1977, he left everything he had in the hands of his only child, Lisa Marie, who was nine years old at the time.
This included his Graceland property, as well as a stake in his wider estate, which in 2020, was estimated to have grown to be worth between US$400 million (approx. $600 million) to $US500 million (approx. $745 million).
At the time of her death in 2023, Lisa Marie’s trust – which had dwindled over the years, particularly after Lisa Marie sold the bulk of the Elvis estate plus rights to her father’s name and image for $US100 million in 2004 (approx. $237 million now) – included the Graceland property itself, plus 15 per cent ownership of Elvis’ estate.
This is where it got tricky.
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Elvis, throughout his life, was known to be generous with his earnings, which could always be replenished with a tour or movie deal. At the time of his death, however, his estate was relatively cash-poor, and was worth around $US5 million (approx. $38 million now) – a lot of money, except Elvis had left a mountain of debt, and couldn’t exactly sing for supper any longer.
In 1989, per the Los Angeles Times, the United States federal government’s revenue service determined Elvis’ estate was worth more than its tax return disclosed, and imposed a $US10 million (approx. $36 million now) estate tax on it.
Elvis’ royalties could not be relied upon to foot this fee due to Colonel Tom Parker selling those rights away for a measly sum and still imposing a 50 per cent fee on all estate dealings – something that was partially explored in Baz Luhrmann‘s biopic Elvis.
At this stage, Elvis’ ex-wife Priscilla stepped in and assumed primary management of the estate as an executor, and with the help of financial advisors, she set up Elvis Presley Enterprises, turned Graceland into a tourist attraction, and set up various royalty and image deals.
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It was due to this that Elvis’ estate grew to a reported worth of $US100 million (approx. $310 million) by 1993. As willed by Elvis, however, it was Lisa Marie who was entitled to it – and when she turned 25 that same year, becoming eligible to inherit the money directly, she opted to set up her own living trust and appoint trustees to manage her inheritance.
By 2003, business manager Barry Siegel had become a co-trustee of Lisa Marie’s will, though he had sold 85 per cent of the trust’s interests in Elvis Presley Enterprises off by 2005, and by 2015, Lisa Marie was in deep debt.
Lisa Marie sued Siegel in 2016 over for squandering her fortune, which he denied, and he instead countersued her with allegations her excessive spending diminished the dollars.
This is all a matter of public record. What wasn’t found out by Priscilla until Lisa Marie’s death, however, was that in 2016, Lisa Marie had amended her trust to remove Siegel and Priscilla – who had become a co-trustee in 2010 – as co-trustees, and appointed Keough and her brother, Benjamin Keough, as co-trustees instead.
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Lisa Marie shared Riley Keough and Benjamin Keough – who died by suicide aged 27 in 2020 – with her ex-husband Danny Keough, and also welcomed now-14-year-old twins Harper Lockwood and Finley Lockwood with ex-husband Michael Lockwood in 2008.
As Benjamin had already died at the time of his mother’s death, this secret amendment meant that Lisa Marie’s trust, including Priscilla’s home of many years, Graceland, was solely controlled by the Daisy Jones and The Six star.
On January 26, Priscilla filed a petition in a Los Angeles court questioning the “authenticity and validity” of Lisa Marie’s 2016 amendment, highlighting inconsistent signatures and names being misspelled as evidence.
“For some reason, Priscilla doesn’t want Riley to act as trustee without her. The 2010 trust permits Priscilla and Riley to act as co-trustees. The 2016 trust permits Riley to act as trustee alone. Priscilla doesn’t like this,” Los Angeles-based attorney David Esquibias told People at the time.
In the filing, Priscilla argued that her 2010 appointment as co-trustee alongside Siegel stipulated that any changes made had to be delivered to Priscilla during Lisa Marie’s lifetime, and Priscilla alleged this was not done so.
Siegel reportedly wanted out of Lisa Marie’s trust all together, with some speculating that this could have meant Priscilla and her granddaughter are appointed co-trustees instead.
Sources close to Lisa Marie, however, insisted that the late singer wanted her legacy to be put in her children’s hands.
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”We discussed this many many times [before] she passed, and that was always Riley and Ben,” managing partner at Elvis Presley Enterprises Joel Weinshaker claimed on Sirius XM‘s Elvis Radio.
“There was never a question in her mind that they would be the stewards, that they would look at it the exact same way that she did. And obviously when Ben passed, it really sat with Riley.”
Weinshaker claimed Lisa Marie was “quite certain” and “very direct” about the situation before her death, and also alleged that Keough had “always had an interest” in the trust and “knew that one day she would be in charge.”
Are Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough talking?
Reports circulated in early March 2023 that Keough kicked Priscilla out of Graceland’s upstairs levels and archives by changing the locks, which Graceland denied.
Priscilla notably skipped the 2023 Oscars in March despite the fact that Elvis – including lead actor Austin Butler – had been nominated for (and lost) multiple gongs.
Days later, it emerged that Priscilla’s absence on Hollywood’s biggest night was not her choice, rather, it was on the advice of her legal team. Keough, however, did attend Vanity Fair‘s Oscars party.
“With so many people who know Priscilla attending the ceremony, there was no way that she would have not interacted with them, and of course potentially discussed the case,” a source claimed to The US Sun.
“Truthfully, it was and is the subject much of Hollywood is talking about because it was so shocking to see the family split during a time of grief and also a time of celebration for the movie.”
Priscilla and Keough were also reportedly not on speaking terms in the lead up to the legal battle, with sources claiming Keough was “seeing a new side of” Priscilla in the wake of Lisa Marie’s death.
“Riley and Priscilla are not talking. Their relationship is changing, that is true… it’s just so sad. This is the time Riley would really need her grandmother,” a source claimed to Page Six in March 2023.
Lisa Marie’s ex, Michael Lockwood, also entered the chat in March, applying for and winning full custody of Keough’s sisters Harper and Finley, something that he and Lisa Marie had furiously fought over for seven years prior to her death.
This reportedly left Keough “furious” at Priscilla, who, despite her daughter’s estranged relationship from her ex-husband, reportedly maintained a close relationship with Keough’s former step-father, allegedly leading to fears from Keough’s camp that Priscilla and Lockwood would “gang up on her” during the court case.
Lockwood was appointed guardian at litem over the twins for the trust battle in an April 13 hearing that both Priscilla and Keough skipped.
Yet, days before Keough and Priscilla were set to face off in court for the first time, Priscilla shut down all reports of a feud and said everything was ” just fine” within the family. Weeks later, in May, she once again shut down feud rumours, yet again days before she was set to face off in court against her granddaughter.
In May, Keough and Priscilla reached a private agreement over the trust. In June, details of that settlement were made public when Keough submitted documents requesting the details be sealed, and approved, by the judge.
The matter was finalised by a Los Angeles judge on August 4, 2023, and days later, Keough broke her silence on the ordeal.
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