Elvis Presley: Priscilla and Lisa Marie discuss singer in 2012
Lisa Marie was only a little girl when her father died on August 16, 1977. She was there that night at Graceland and rushed into the bathroom where he lay dead on the floor. Although she was only nine at the time, she remembers that Elvis was constantly surrounded by his inner circle throughout his life, and especially in his decline. As an adult, an angry Lisa Marie called them “slithering mother****ers” and said they were still “trying to take away his dignity” even after he was gone.
Lisa Marie named three of them in a particularly furious attack, accusing them of contributing to her father’s demise and then profiting from it afterwards.
She referred to: “Sonny West, Marty Lacker, Red West, all these people that were worse than him.”
“They scared the hell out of me when I was a kid, too. I remember seeing the Playboys, the drugs, the women – I watched it all, and I watched them. I know the real story behind all of them.”
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Shortly before he died, Elvis became aware and deeply upset that three of his former guards – Red West, his cousin Sonny West, and David Hebler – were about to publish a book. The salaciously detailed Elvis, What Happened? was set to expose the star’s drug use and unhealthy lifestyle to the world.
The trio had been fired, officially to save money, but they claimed it was because they had tried to force Elvis to face his addiction issues.
Over the years, these three and numerous others from Elvis’ inner circle would continue to give interviews, release books and make documentaries revealing yet more private details about their former friend and boss.
Lisa Marie exploded with anger after watching one particular documentary and publicly accused the Memphis Mafia of “helping” her father “go down” at the end.
She was referring to the E! True Hollywood Story: The Last Days of Elvis, which included testimonials from many of Elvis’ Memphis Mafia and other associates.
Lisa Marie said: “It actually did me in, emotionally, for days. What made me angry was the interviews with the mother****ers who hung around him. These idiots were so disgusting–they helped him go down and were actually worse than he was.
“It infuriated me. They were trying to take away his dignity, the one thing that was most important to him.”
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In another interview, Lisa Marie added: “I couldn’t believe they were trying to take his dignity… I just thought, ‘You slithering mother****ers have no right. None.
“‘You were responsible for this just as much as he was. His dignity was one of the most important things to him, and you are trying to take it away.”
Her fury inspired the song Nobody Noticed It for her 2003 debut album, To Whom It May Concern.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/SmSNSl1Yw-Y
The lyrics of the song paint a picture of Elvis suffering alone, with nobody to help him.
They say: “All that you had to endure, Nobody noticed it,” and go on to promise, “Well, they tried to make, You look broken, But not while I’m living.”
While everyone from the Memphis Mafia has always protested over the years that there was no way to help Elvis, that it was impossible to ever challenge his wishes, Lisa Marie believed they should have done more.
But she also recognised that it’s rare that stars like her father survive such an extraordinary pressures and lifestyles.
Lisa Marie said: “He didn’t have anyone to keep him levelled off. You get into this world where nothing you do is wrong.
“I don’t think any artist has really done that well with it – they usually end up destroying themselves. Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison . . . he wasn’t the only one.
“It’s like you have no basis anymore. No foundation. And I think he was one of the first ones to go through it.
“It was very lonely there, where he was. I know that.”
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