Michael Edwards denied allegations that he previously sexually assaulted a then-child Lisa Marie Presley during a time when he dated her mother, Priscilla Presley.
“These claims are absolutely untrue,” Edwards, 80, told Us Weekly in a Thursday, October 10, statement. “I never molested Lisa Marie and am shocked at the suggestion that I did.”
Edwards previously wrote about his relationship with Priscilla in his 1988 memoir, Priscilla, Elvis and Me, where he claimed to have also felt a sexual attraction toward Lisa Marie.
“I was encouraged to embellish a harmless anecdote about Lisa Marie in my memoir from the 1980s and now regret that I did,” Edwards added to Us. “I understand that these stories sell books, but the notion that I molested Lisa Marie is just a fabrication.’’
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Edwards dated Priscilla, now 79, for nearly seven years in the 1980s following her divorce from late rock star Elvis Presley. In Lisa Marie’s posthumous memoir From Here to the Great Unknown, she claimed to be a victim of rape.
Lisa Marie alleged that the Mommie Dearest actor had a “horrible temper” and first assaulted her when she was 10 years old. In one book passage, Lisa Marie claimed that she “woke up to find him on his knees next to my bed, running his finger up my leg under the sheets, and if I moved, he stopped — so I moved.”
Lisa Marie then reportedly told her mother what happened the next day, who later explained that Edward was keen to apologize for his actions.
“Edwards was sitting on their bed looking very sullen and sulky. He said, ‘I’m so sorry, but in Europe, that’s how they teach the kids, so that’s what I was doing,’” Lisa Marie wrote. “I didn’t know what to say. I would always feel bad for him when he apologized. Eventually, it became that he would touch me and spank me, telling me not to look — ‘Don’t look at me,’ he’d say, ‘Don’t turn your head.’ I assume he was jerking off.”
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Priscilla, for her part, has not publicly addressed the allegations.
Edwards’ daughter, Caroline Van Zandt, also denied the claims, telling Us in a statement, “Lisa Marie and I were close friends throughout my father’s relationship with Priscilla. We were confidants, like sisters, sharing all our secrets and complaining about our parents as typical teenagers do. I have kept many notes and letters from Lisa Marie during those years and she never stated or insinuated that my dad touched her inappropriately. When she told me about my dad walking into her room, we then addressed and resolved the issue as a family. Those who know Priscilla and her fierce protectiveness of her family understand she never would have tolerated any sort of behavior like that. I’m disappointed and sad that these claims are being made.’’
Lisa Marie’s memoir was released earlier this week. It was finished by her eldest daughter Riley Keough thanks to audio recordings, nearly one year after the late “Storm & Grace” singer died at age 53.
“I feel very proud and in awe of my mother, she somehow lived in honesty and truth all the time, no matter how uncomfortable that was for her or the people around her,” Keough, 35, wrote via Instagram on October 3. “It was a really aspirational quality and just being around it was liberating.”
She added, “This is also how she approached her autobiography. I know her intention was to tell a human story and connect to people in telling it. I feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to finish it for her.”
Lisa Marie is survived by her mother and her three daughters. She shared Riley and late son Benjamin with ex Danny Keough, as well as 16-year-old twins Harper and Finley with ex-husband Michael Lockwood.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
