LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Elvis Presley’s daughter Lisa Marie Presley once told his then girlfriend, Linda Thompson, that her mother Priscilla “didn’t like her.” The reasons she gave were, however, not surprising. Linda Thompson once reminisced in her autobiographical book, how a six-year-old Lisa Marie divulged the news of her mother’s discontent openly to her.
Fresh from winning Miss Tennessee in 1972, Thompson started dating the ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’ singer when she was just 22. During that time, she also met Lisa Marie, who was Elvis’s only child with Priscilla Presley. While the duo’s initial interactions were curious at best, they became longtime friends later on. In fact, after the ‘Love Me’ singer’s death in 1977, Lisa Marie made the first call to Linda Thompson.
'But my daddy takes you everywhere'
Elvis Presley and Priscilla’s only child Lisa Marie Presley once told her father’s girlfriend Linda Thompson that Priscilla “didn’t like her.” In her book titled, ‘A Little Thing Called Life: On Loving Elvis Presley, Bruce Jenner, and Songs in Between,’ Thompson detailed the incident where the six-year-old Lisa Marie divulged the secret that Priscilla didn’t like her. After Elvis and Priscilla’s fairy tale marriage was on the verge of being over in 1973, the King of Rock and Roll was dating Linda Thompson. By that time he was a father to a little girl, Lisa Marie Presley, who was co-parented by both Priscilla and the ‘Jailhouse Rock’ singer.
As Lisa Marie started splitting her time between her father’s home at Graceland and Priscilla’s California home, she came in contact with Thompson. The ‘Love Lights the World’ songstress shared in her autobiography that in one such instance, which also happened to be her birthday, Elvis’s daughter told her directly that Priscilla “didn’t like her”. Thompson wrote, that Lisa Marie, who was then six, said, “'My mommy says it’s because he didn’t take her anywhere when she was married to my daddy. But my daddy takes you everywhere.'” The ‘I Have Nothing’ singer continued quoting the then little girl, “'You are always with my daddy, and my mommy never got to be with my daddy. So that’s why',” as per Cheatsheet.
However, Thompson wasn’t unaware of the difference in the nature of her relationship with the ‘Suspicious Minds’ singer and the situation of Priscilla’s marriage to him.
'She’s still a part of my heart'
While Lisa Marie and Thompson might have started on a discordant note, they formed a life-long friendship later on. After Lisa Marie’s death in January 2023, Thompson remembered her in a lengthy Instagram post in April. Sharing a few pictures of Elvis’s daughter when she lost her front teeth, Thompson wrote lovingly, “Like many of you, I am doing a little bit of spring cleaning and ran across this photo album from back in the day. These are all Polaroids. Time stood still for a few moments as I looked through these precious photos. Little “Yisa Marisa” as I remember her so lovingly. She was a precious little girl! Shown here she was six years old and had just lost her two front teeth.”
Continuing, she added, “She wanted me to take some pictures of her in my dressing area at the Monovale house. We had such a wonderful relationship for so many years. She’s still a part of my heart.”
The former beauty pageant winner not only spoke highly of Lisa Marie but her daughter Riley Keough too. She further continued in the same post, “I don’t know how many of you are watching - or have binge watched like I did - @daisyjonesandthesix starring Lisa’s daughter @rileykeough….but if you haven’t you must! It is fantastic!!” She gushed, “There are so many nuances in Riley’s facial expressions that remind me of her beautiful mom. Lisa‘s lovely, formidable, powerful presence lives on in her gorgeous and talented daughter.💜👏🙏🏻🌹.”
