Priscilla Presley is alive and currently resides in Los Angeles, according to Cosmopolitan.
Although Priscilla Presley has always been a household name, her exposure has recently increased for a number of reasons.
First, two popular biopics, Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” and Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” were released in 2022 and 2023, respectively, that document various aspects of Elvis and Priscilla’s life together.
Priscilla also was in the news because the only daughter she had with Elvis, Lisa Marie Presley, tragically died in January 2023.
Not long after Lisa Marie’s unexpected passing, Priscilla became involved in a dispute surrounding her estate. Namely, she brought a will contest to attempt to have her late daughter’s 2016 will amendment invalidated because it replaced her as co-trustee of her trust with her granddaughter Riley Keough and her late grandson Benjamin Keough.
According to Entertainment Tonight, the lawsuit was ultimately settled privately amongst family members.
“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 stated. “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. As a family, we are pleased that we resolved this together.”
In September 2023, on the heels of the family dispute over Lisa Marie’s estate, Priscilla found herself involved in yet another legal battle. This lawsuit was brought against Priscilla by Priscilla Presley Partners (PPP), a company formed by Priscilla and high-profile auctioneer Brigitte Kruse to commercialize Priscilla’s name, image and likeness.
Per court documents, the partnership between Priscilla and Kruse was formed in 2022. The latter was reportedly instrumental in getting the biopic “Priscilla” made, and she intervened just as Priscilla was allegedly “60 days from insolvency” and facing $700,000 in unpaid debts.
According to the legal complaint obtained by Billboard, Kruse had a 51% stake and Priscilla had a 49% stake in PPP.
In the lawsuit, Kruse is alleging that Priscilla and two new advisers sent her a cease-and-desist letter and abruptly “cut off all communication” with her in August 2023, effectively resulting in Priscilla breaching her contract. The lawsuit posited that this sudden reversal occurred just as Kruse’s exhaustive efforts on Priscilla’s behalf were starting to yield results.
Court documents show that Priscilla’s legal team was pushing to have the PPP lawsuit dismissed. Her lawyers were claiming that Kruse was retaliating against Priscilla because she had parted ways with Kruse after discovering the memorabilia auctioneer had harmed her financially.
“My client made significant claims against PPP and its principals … for misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars long before this specious lawsuit was filed,” Marty Singer, Priscilla’s lawyer, said in a statement. “We fully anticipate that my client will be vindicated and obtain a judgment against them.”
While this 2023 lawsuit has seemingly been sidelined for now, Kruse and another business associate of Priscilla’s, Kevin Fialko, filed a new $50 million lawsuit against the former wife of Elvis with the Los Angeles Superior Court in August, alleging fraud and breach of contract.
Their complaint was recently amended to include bombshell allegations that Priscilla allegedly placed “undue [financial] pressure” on Elvis in the spring of 1977, ultimately “pushing him to his death” that August. The complaint states that Priscilla “knew she was not entitled to inherit anything from Elvis” and therefore resorted to “extorting millions of dollars” from him, per People.
The petition claims Kruse and Fialco “sprang into action to prevent Priscilla’s financial ruin and public embarrassment.” It also claims that Priscilla exploited the Presley name to fund her lifestyle, concealed a prior 2005 licensing deal with Elvis Presley Enterprises and “pulled the plug” on Lisa Marie’s life support to gain control of Graceland and related trusts.
Priscilla and her granddaughter Riley have issued a joint statement calling these claims “deeply hurtful” and “absurd” and are vehemently denying them. The judge, however, has not yet issued a ruling, according to People.
“Take off the aluminum foil hat and face reality,” Marty Singer, Priscilla’s attorney, says. “This lawsuit concerns Ms. Presley’s claims against Ms. Kruse (and her co-conspirators) in which she alleges that Ms. Kruse engaged in a relentless and calculated campaign of elder abuse and fraud in order to take control of Ms. Presley’s finances for her own benefit. Ms. Kruse’s allegations are absurd and despicable, but unfortunately, are not surprising. Ms. Presley looks forward to holding Ms. Kruse and her co-conspirators liable for their wrongful acts.”
