Priscilla Presley recounts the moment she decided to remove her daughter Lisa Marie Presley from life support in an excerpt from her forthcoming memoir, Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis, as she continues to contest a $50 million lawsuit that accuses her of exploiting her daughter’s death.
People published an early excerpt from the book in which the 80-year-old Presley writes that upon entering Lisa Marie’s hospital room hours after the singer suffered cardiac arrest in January 2023, she recognized that her daughter was "already gone." She described Lisa Marie as "hooked to a machine that was breathing for her," with a heartbeat but "little brain activity," and said that her daughter’s "spirit, always so vital, wasn’t there." Priscilla writes that she could not bear the scene and that a doctor told her Lisa Marie would have "no quality of life at all," prompting the decision to remove life support.
In the memoir excerpt, Priscilla also recounts that Riley Keough, Lisa Marie’s daughter, later told the family she had felt her mother’s spirit pass while on a flight. Priscilla wrote that none of them "was ready to give up yet," and described collapsing into the arms of a cousin during the ordeal.
The personal account arrives amid a legal dispute that intensified in September when former business partners Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko filed a breach-of-contract and fraud complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking more than $50 million. The suit alleges that Priscilla "pulled the plug" on Lisa Marie in January 2023 contrary to the singer’s 2010 advance health care directive, which the complaint says directed that her life be "prolonged as long as possible" in end-of-life decisions. The plaintiffs contend that Presley acted quickly to remove herself as a threatened trustee of Lisa Marie’s irrevocable life insurance trust and to secure control of the Promenade Trust and Graceland.
Priscilla Presley has denied the allegations. Her attorney, Marty Singer, called the new complaint "one of the most shameful, ridiculous, salacious, and meritless lawsuits" he had seen, and described the filing as a retaliatory attempt to "falsely tarnish the reputation of an eighty year old woman." Singer said Riley Keough "stands behind her grandmother 100 per cent" and called the claims a "vicious attempt" to ruin Priscilla’s life.
Kruse and Fialko’s complaint includes a series of allegations about prior dealings with Presley, alleging they negotiated settlement payments and restructured her finances after she sought their help in 2022 while facing tax debts. They say they formed companies with Presley to exploit her name, image and likeness, and that she later "cut ties" and undermined their ventures while benefiting from revenues tied to appearances and licensing. The plaintiffs also allege they were terminated before receiving full compensation for negotiated deals and that Presley and associates misappropriated corporate funds.
Priscilla filed her own litigation last year accusing Kruse, Fialko and others of financial elder abuse, claiming they preyed on her while she was in a vulnerable financial state and deprived her of more than $1 million. In a complaint filed in 2024, Presley accused the group of isolating her from advisors, pressuring her into signing numerous agreements, taking unauthorized commissions and closing bank accounts. The disputes have produced multiple filings in California and Florida courts and contested motions, and at least one judge previously wrote that if Priscilla’s allegations are true they could constitute "classic elder abuse," according to Singer.
The new counterclaims filed by Kruse and Fialko allege Priscilla’s elder-abuse claim was suggested to her by Keya Morgan, a figure the suit describes as having befriended Presley and encouraged her to sever ties with Kruse and Fialko. Morgan, the plaintiffs allege, sought rights to Presley’s name, image and likeness and was involved in communications after a settlement; he has been named in the suit as a co-defendant. Morgan’s name has drawn public attention in the past; he was previously acquitted of theft charges related to another high-profile client.
Legal filings also touch on estate and trust disputes following Lisa Marie’s death. Lisa Marie Presley died in January 2023; medical reports cited a small bowel obstruction related to previous weight-loss surgery as the cause. Two days before she collapsed in Calabasas, the mother and daughter had appeared together at the Golden Globes to support the Elvis biopic. In the weeks after Lisa Marie’s death, Priscilla challenged a 2016 amendment to the Promenade Trust that had removed her and a former business manager as co-trustees and instead named Riley Keough and Lisa Marie’s late son Benjamin Keough as co-trustees. That matter was later settled.
The plaintiffs’ complaint alleges Priscilla sought to regain control of trust and estate assets when she challenged the will and that she made public statements indicating an assertion of authority over Graceland. Priscilla’s legal team has disputed those assertions, and court records show a history of competing claims, settlement negotiations and motions in related cases.
Priscilla’s memoir, which is scheduled for release on September 23, 2025, offers her account of family life after Elvis Presley’s death and includes the excerpt about Lisa Marie’s final hours. The book’s publication comes as the parties continue to litigate in state courts and exchange assertions about consent, business arrangements and the handling of Lisa Marie’s final medical decisions.
Attorneys for Kruse and Fialko told media outlets they have documentation supporting their version of events, including communications they say show legitimate business dealings and disputed financial arrangements. Their lawyer, Jordan Matthews, said in an interview that the suit will demonstrate that Priscilla’s elder-abuse claim originated from Morgan’s influence and that his clients are the real victims, having invested in rebuilding Presley’s brand.
Both sides have signaled readiness to press their claims in court. The plaintiffs seek more than $50 million in damages, including punitive damages, and injunctive relief to restrict Presley’s use of her name, image and likeness in certain business structures. Presley seeks to void contracts she says were procured through undue influence and to recover alleged misappropriated funds. Several motions and prior rulings have shaped the litigation to date, and more hearings are expected as the cases proceed.
The memoir’s hospital-room account deepens public attention on a family tragedy that has produced multiple civil lawsuits and competing narratives about business relationships and last wishes. For now, the racial and legal contours of the disputes remain in the hands of judges and the evidence presented in court filings and testimony.