Elvis’ Aunt Made Lisa Marie Presley Cry by Talking Badly About Priscilla Presley
After Elvis Presley’s death, his daughter Lisa Marie continued to spend time at Graceland. She still had family living there and visited often. While visiting, Lisa Marie ran away from her Aunt Delta in tears. Eventually, the others in the house discovered that Delta’s harsh words about Priscilla Presley had made Lisa Marie cry.
Lisa Marie Presley didn’t appreciate the way Elvis’ aunt talked about her mother
In 1982, Priscilla opened Graceland to the public. The house was more than the Presley family could afford, given Elvis’ debts and the cost of upkeep. In order to save the home and keep it attached to Elvis’ name, Priscilla decided to turn it into a tourist attraction.
As Priscilla considered this option, Lisa Marie visited her family at Graceland. One afternoon, she ran into the house crying.
“One day Lisa came running into the house, crying,” Graceland maid Nancy Rooks wrote in her book Inside Graceland: Elvis’ Maid Remembers. “I asked her what was wrong but she wouldn’t tell me. Aunt Delta walked into the room but Lisa would not come near her.”
Eventually, Elvis’ cousin, Patsy, was able to get the story out of Lisa Marie.
“We finally called Patsy to come in and talk to her, to try and find out what was bothering her,” Rooks wrote. “Patsy told me later that Lisa had overheard Aunt Delta saying some unflattering things about how Priscilla was talking about opening Graceland to the public. Apparently, Aunt Delta had said that meant Priscilla didn’t care about Aunt Delta and Dodger, and, because of that, had talked harshly about Priscilla.”
Lisa Marie hadn’t just run away crying after hearing this. Before she went back to the house, she confronted Delta.
“We found out later that, after overhearing Aunt Delta say those things, Lisa had confronted her and then gotten into an argument with her and yelled, ‘You don’t like anybody, you just cuss them out behind their back.’ As with most family squabbles, things were back to normal within a few days and the incident was soon forgotten.”
Lisa Marie Presley clashed with Elvis’ aunt more than once
This was far from the only time Lisa Marie clashed with Delta.
“Though I think she loved Aunt Delta, she was not nearly as close with her,” Rooks explained. “She told me one time, ‘I like Aunt Delta, but she cusses too much.'”
Despite a young Lisa Marie’s apparent aversion to cussing, she reportedly found it in herself to swear at Delta. As Delta tried to get Lisa Marie to take a bath and go to bed one night, the girl repeatedly refused. According to her cousin, Danny Smith, after several attempts from Delta, Lisa Marie snapped, “Why don’t you carry your fat a** back upstairs?”
“Lisa was a lot like her daddy,” Smith told Express, “you just didn’t really tell her what to do!”
Delta remained at Graceland until her death
Despite Delta’s concerns about opening Graceland to the public, she continued to live in the home until her death in 1993. She was the last remaining person to live at Graceland.
Though tours went through the house daily, they did not visit Delta’s bedroom or the kitchen, giving her privacy from the public. At the end of the day, Delta could use the rest of the mansion. After her death, the kitchen became a part of the Graceland tour.
