Elvis's widow Priscilla Presley said the death of their only daughter, Lisa Marie, 'separated' the Presley family.

The 80-year-old matriarch talked about her daughter's death during a speaking event with her son, Navarone Garibaldi Garcia, 39, in Las Vegas over the weekend. 

'It's kind of separated us in a way,' she said in an audio clip obtained by the Daily Mail, adding that before Lisa Marie's passing the family would 'get together and have meals and, of course, you know, have family.'

Lisa Marie died from a small bowel obstruction in January 2023 at age 54. She left behind daughters Harper and Finley Lockwood, 18, whom she shared with ex-husband Michael Lockwood, 64, as well as 36-year-old daughter Riley Keough, whom she had with ex-husband Danny Keough,  61. 

Lisa Marie and Danny's son, Benjamin Keough, died by suicide at age 27 in July 2020.

Priscilla said her granddaughters are now 18 and lead independent lives: 'They have their boyfriends and, you know, do their thing.'

'Even though we're close,' she started to say, before her son chimed in, stating that losing Lisa Marie's son Benjamin 'was the first thing that separated us.'

'When you would think that would be something that should bring everybody together, that somehow separated us further, because everybody grieves in different ways, and everybody felt, you know, put blame on somebody in different ways, and just felt different ways about it,' he said.

'Somehow, that separated us further,' Garcia - whom Priscilla shares with ex Marco Garibaldi, 71 - added.

Garcia offered a different perspective from his mother on the family's fractured dynamic following Lisa Marie's passing. 

'Now, after my sister died, I feel like now we're actually coming closer together, and I feel like we're all letting go of those feelings,' he said.

Despite their famously fraught relationship, Priscilla and Lisa Marie were together just days before the star's death as they attended the Golden Globes to watch Austin Butler's big win for the 2022 biographical drama Elvis. 

Last year, Priscilla settled her legal fight with her oldest grandchild Riley over daughter Lisa Marie's estate.

Following Lisa Marie's shock death, Priscilla sparked a bitter legal battle with Riley by questioning the validity of her daughter's will, after a 2016 amendment removed her as a trustee and replaced her with her adult grandchildren, Riley and Riley's brother Benjamin.

They reached a settlement in May, four months after the mother-of-four died, and publicly claimed to be 'on good terms.' 

But a $50 million lawsuit filed by Priscilla's former business partners, Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko, revealed a heartbreaking letter Riley had penned to her grandmother. 

In Brigitte and Kevin's amended complaint, which was obtained by Daily Mail, they included the full letter from the Zola actress.

'Unfortunately Nona as you are taking me to court I am being forced to defend my mother’s wishes legally and publicly which would not have been my choice,' Riley wrote.

'It is really hurtful that after years of me trying to resolve your and my mother's broken relationship and restore our family, you are taking me, of all people, to court,' she added.

The star claimed that she had 'advocated for' and 'protected' her grandmother from lawsuits her late mother had wanted to file against her, insisting that she had 'always tried to keep everyone operating out of love.'

Riley went on to allege in the letter, 'Even a few weeks before my mother passed she wanted to sue you again and you called me for help.'

She said she lobbied her mother so fiercely that it led to a 'fight' between them.

'But as you know she chose to listen to me and not sue you,' it was added. 'I believed then and now, lawsuits among family members have no place, but here we are.'

She went on to say that Priscilla focused on Lisa Marie's will too soon, rather than giving everyone in the family time to mourn her death.

'I must also share with you that I found being called about the will, less than 24 hours after my mother passed and getting emails from lawyers before my mother was even buried, incredibly heartbreaking,' Riley wrote.

'It was very upsetting that I was forced to find a lawyer to represent me and my sisters and my mother's wishes within days of her passing,' she continued, before giving her grandmother the benefit of the doubt and considering that Priscilla's attorneys may have advised her to take legal action.

'But you must know that this chosen path can only further estrange our family which is really sad,' Riley wrote. 'My hope is that you are being poorly advised and this is not actually coming from you.'

Lisa Marie was laid to rest next to her father, rock n' roll icon Elvis, and her son, Benjamin. Elvis died in 1977 when she was nine. 

Priscilla and Elvis officially separated in early 1972 and finalized their divorce the next year. 

Priscilla later welcomed her son Navarone in 1987 with music producer Garibaldi. She and Garibaldi parted ways in 2006.