Presley Dynasty Pain: Priscilla 'Blindsided' and 'Devastated' Over Horrific Family Secrets Exposed By Lisa Marie Presley’s Posthumous Memoir
Priscilla Presley is "blindsided" and "devastated" at many of the secrets laid bare in a blockbuster posthumous memoir by her troubled daughter Lisa Marie.
A source tells RadarOnline she was not expecting it to touch on some of the raw and personal subjects it did.
Although the pair were in a "good place" at the time of Lisa Marie's passing, that wasn't always the case.
Lisa Marie writes that shortly after Elvis died she realized "life as she knew it was completely over," and that she was now "stuck with her," meaning Priscilla, 79.
She talks about preferring to "hit the streets" as a teenager rather than stay living with Priscilla.
Lisa Marie also claims that when she was 10, her mother's then-boyfriend molested her.
"God knows Priscilla and Lisa Marie had their ups and downs, so reliving some of this stuff is torturous for her," said the insider.
"If she had her time again, she'd do a lot differently. But she is devastated and blind-sided at the revelations that Lisa Marie preferred drugs and booze to the company of her mother."
During her all-too-short life, Lisa Marie Presley struggled to escape the legacy of her father.
But now through her posthumous memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown, she's able to share some personal truths.
With Lisa Marie having begun writing the book before her sudden death last January at age 51, the incomplete tell-all has since been finished by her eldest daughter, Riley Keough.
"Few people had the opportunity to know who my mum really was, other than being Elvis' daughter," said Riley, 35.
"I want to give voice to my mother in a way that eluded her while she was alive."
Completing the book wasn't an easy process for Riley. She says sifting through hours of her mother's taped memories was "bittersweet" and the passages about Lisa Marie "descent into addiction" were "incredibly difficult".
"[She] wanted to write a book in the hopes that someone could read her story and relate to her, to know that they're not alone in the world," Riley explained.
"Her hope with this book was just human connection.
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However, when the memoir was published last month, many readers and some Presley family members were stunned by its most shocking revelations.
As Elvis and Priscilla's only child, Lisa Marie was thrust into the public eye from birth. The Presleys' tumultuous marriage ended when Lisa Marie was four, and she vividly recalls memories of Elvis being "very exciting dad".
In the book, Lisa Marie says her dad would often wake her up in the middle of the night to "get on the table and sing". They'd also ride around their Memphis neighborhood in a customized golf cart!
Lisa Marie was nine when Elvis died aged 42 after years of drug abuse.
She recalls a sense of unease when her father kissed her goodnight hours before he passed away.
Lisa Marie never got over the trauma of Elvis's death. She wrote: "There have been nights as an adult when I would just get drunk and listen to his music and sit there and cry. The grief still comes. It's still just there."
To try and deal with Elvis' passing, Lisa Marie turned to drugs in her teen years.
It's a pattern that would repeat throughout her life.
"I did everything ... cocaine, sedatives, pot and drinking. All at the same time," Lisa Marie said. "I don't know how I lived through it."
After welcoming her twin daughters Finley and Harper Lockwood in 2008, she became hooked on opioids. A doctor had prescribed them to her for pain. Soon, she was taking as many as 80 pills a day.
"It took more and more to get high, and I honestly don't know when your body decides it can't deal with it anymore. But it does decide that at some point," Lisa Marie confessed.
A cocaine addiction followed, and Lisa Marie reportedly underwent five rehab stints. She also temporarily lost custody of the twins amid her divorce from their father, Michael Lockwood.
To wean her off the opioids, Lisa Marie was prescribed medication that Riley says "only served to make her even more high because whatever the normal dose was, she would somehow get five times that amount from the doctors".
Lisa Marie was eventually able to stay sober, although her autopsy revealed oxycodone in her system, which she was given after cosmetic surgery.
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