Yahoo News Jerry Schilling Remembers Lisa Marie Presley 1 Year After Her Sudden Death: 'There's a Huge Vacuum' (Exclusive)
The close family friend pays tribute to Elvis Presley's only child and shares his fond memories of the little girl he nicknamed "Memphis"
Jerry Schilling knew Lisa Marie Presley her 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 of Elvis Presley suddenly died at the age of 54, but the 81-year-old close family friend says it still “surprises” him that she’s no longer around.
“Being a 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.”
Schilling was a constant presence — alongside her mother Priscilla Presley — in Lisa Marie’s life. The man, who met Elvis in 1954 when he was 12 and the singer was a rising star, went on to become a core member of the Memphis Mafia, Presley’s beloved group of friends. He recalls being in the hospital waiting room with Elvis while Priscilla gave birth to the couple’s daughter on Feb. 1, 1968. And, nearly 55 years later, he was by the family’s side in Los Angeles when she died hours after she was found in her home in cardiac arrest.
“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 the Golden Globes red carpet just two days earlier, said there was no indication that she was unwell. In fact, he says she was “in great spirit.”
“Since the loss of her son, Ben Storm, Lisa did not go out,” he says, referring to the singer’s only son, Benjamin Storm Keough, who died by suicide at 27 in July 2020. (Lisa Marie was also mom to actress Riley Keough with her ex-husband Danny Keough, and twins Harper and Finley with her fourth husband Michael Lockwood.) “I didn’t know she… was going to survive [Benjamin's death]. She survived that for two years because of the love and care for her three daughters.”
What brought Lisa Marie back out into the public eye, Schilling says, was helping to promote director Baz Luhrmann’s biopic about her father, Elvis, starring Austin 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.”
Related: Austin Butler Recalls Bonding with Lisa Marie Presley: 'There Was No Filter of How She Felt'
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 to celebrate at The Formosa Café.
“That night she said, ‘Jerry Schilling’ — she always called me [that] — ‘I’m going to the Golden Globes by myself. Will you walk me down the red carpet?’ I said, ‘Of course, I’d be honored to.’”
For millions of TV viewers around the world, the ceremony was the last time they would see Lisa Marie alive. Holding on to Schilling’s arm while doing interviews on the red carpet, she looked thin and at times seemed to rely on him to steady herself.
Courtesy of Jerry Schilling
Jerry Schilling with Lisa Marie Presley, aged 19, at his Sunset Boulevard office.“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.”
Related: Lisa Marie Presley Said She Was 'Destroyed' by Son Benjamin's Death but Kept 'Going for My Girls'
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.”
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 settlement agreement with her mother (the Zola star’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 and Benjamin were laid to rest.
Meanwhile, in June, Riley became the sole trustee of her mother’s estate. In December, she produced the Christmas at Graceland TV special, which featured musical performances by John Legend and Post Malone. And on Thursday, she announced that she is steering the posthumous publication of her mother’s untitled autobiography, which hits bookshelves in October.
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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 series Daisy 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.”
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.”
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