Jerry Schilling and Lisa Marie Presley on the Golden Globes red carpet in January 2023.Photo: Todd Williamson/NBC/Getty
Jerry Schilling knewLisa Marie Presleyher whole life, from the day she took her first breath to the moment she took her last. It’s been a year since the only child ofElvis Presleysuddenlydied at the age of 54, but the 81-year-old close family friend says it still “surprises” him that she’s no longer around.
“Beinga pallbearer [at her funeral], I know she’s gone, and being there with her in the hospital for the last moment,” Schilling tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. “But on a day-to-day basis, there a lot of times I’ll think, ‘I wonder what Lisa’s going to think of this.’ Then I go, ‘Oh my God.’ There’s just a huge vacuum.”
Lisa Marie Presley with her parents Elvis and Priscilla in 1968.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
“I never thought I’d be missing her,” Schilling says, reflecting on Lisa Marie’s death. “Logically it should be the other way around.”
Six months after her death on Jan. 12, 2023, an autopsy revealed that the cause was a“small bowel obstruction,”a complication that developed years after the mom of four had bariatric surgery. But Schilling, who escorted Lisa Marie down theGolden Globes red carpetjust two days earlier, said there was no indication that she was unwell. In fact, he says she was “in great spirit.”
Lisa Marie Presley with her son Benjamin Keough who died in 2020.Copetti/Photofab/Shutterstock
What brought Lisa Marie back out into the public eye, Schilling says, was helping to promote directorBaz Luhrmann’s biopicabout her father,Elvis, starringAustin Butler.
The talent manager remembers, “When we were flying back to Memphis for a screening, I met her at the airport. I hadn’t seen her since Ben Storm’s funeral. She said to me, ‘Jerry, I will never be the same.’ She looked frail. But she was really trying. I think the film and the love that Austin Butler and Baz Luhrmann and everybody was showing her was starting to bring her out.”
It was on Jan. 8, 2023, what would have been her father’s 88th birthday, that Lisa Marie asked Schilling to accompany her to the Golden Globes to support the film, which had received three nominations. Earlier that day, she celebrated her dad’s birthday with his fans at an annual event at Graceland in Memphis and flown back to Los Angeles tocelebrate at The Formosa Café.
Jerry Schilling with Lisa Marie Presley, aged 19, at his Sunset Boulevard office.Courtesy of Jerry Schilling
Courtesy of Jerry Schilling
“She was having a nice time, and I thought she was great,” says Schilling, who was Lisa Marie’s manager decades earlier when she pursued a music career. “The only concern I had was she had these big high heels on. People talk about when she’s holding onto my arm. Her mother’s done that. In fact, her mother almost tripped that night later."
He adds, “Anybody can say what they want to, but I was with her. She was not on drugs. She’s had problems, but she’s been honest about that. But, outside of being extra thin, going through the loss of a son, she was really trying to get back and be supportive of the film about her father that she was pleased with.”
That night, after attending the Golden Globes and Luhrmann’s party, Schilling says he walked Lisa Marie to her SUV. He remembers her last words to him as they said goodnight. “She said, ‘Jerry Schilling, I love you.’”
The next time he saw her was on the day she died. He says, “I get the call two days later to rush to the hospital. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t.”
Lisa Marie Presley with her four children, Riley and Benjamin Keough and twins Harper and Finley.Lisa Marie Presley Instagram
In the year since Lisa Marie’s death, much has happened to preserve her legacy and that of her father, Elvis, who died in August 1977 at the age of 42. Her daughter Riley, 34,reached a settlementagreement with her mother (theZolastar’s grandmother) Priscilla. It gave the 78-year-old a $1 million payment from Lisa Marie’s $25 million life insurance policy. Part of the agreement allows Priscilla to be buried near her ex-husband Elvis at Graceland, where Lisa Marie andBenjamin were laid to rest.
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“She’s a very bright, loving human being that has made sure the family stays together,” Schilling says of Riley, who received a 2024 Golden Globe nomination for her performance in the Prime Video seriesDaisy Jones & The Six.
Behind the scenes, Lisa Marie’s loved ones are still grieving — including Riley’s father Danny, 59, who found his ex-wife in cardiac arrest at their shared home. “I worry about Danny. He is so hurt and has been so hurt with Ben Storm and then Lisa,” Schilling says. “He’s carrying a big heart. I do feel that his daughter Riley really shows him a lot of love and care, and I think that helps keep Danny going.”
Lisa Marie Presley as a child in Hawaii with her parents Elvis and Priscilla.Magma Agency/WireImage
As for his friend Priscilla, she’s “coping as best she can” on the heels of back-to-back tragedy that includes the loss of her “grandson that she was very close to,” says Schilling. “She has tried to continue on and is doing a good job of doing that, but she’s emotionally torn up inside.”
Schilling has a lifetime of memories to cherish of Lisa Marie, a.k.a. the little girl he nicknamed “Memphis,” who once worked as his assistant at his Sunset Boulevard office.
“I miss hanging out with her late at night, especially in Hawaii, and her laugh and that little smile and some of our arguments…” he says. “Now that I don’t have that opportunity to spend time with her, I didn’t know how much I really would miss her. I’m still dealing with that.”
source: people.com
