Lisa Marie Presley feared Scientology leader David Miscavige was “out to get her” after she quit the church, her mom Priscilla claims in her new book.
The only daughter of Elvis Presley believed she was being followed by Scientology goons on Miscavige’s orders after she stormed into the church HQ in Clearwater, Florida, to confront him, an incident believed to have happened in 2013.
Although Lisa was, for a long time, a devout Scientologist she had actually been investigating the church for years before her dramatic exit that same year, Priscilla claims in her memoir, “Softly, As I Leave You“.
“Her misgivings reached a crisis,” Priscilla writes, when Miscavige “disconnected from his father [Ron Miscavige] and put him in the equivalent of a Scientology prison at a secluded location in the San Bernardino Mountains … Lisa had had enough. Fearless and angry, my daughter walked into the eye of the storm and confronted David directly. She told him with great anger and passion just how she felt about him ‘disconnecting’ from his father. Lisa was never subtle when she was angry.”
However, “The aftermath was frightening for her,” Priscilla confesses. “She called me from Florida after her visit to headquarters and said, ‘Mom, I’m so scared. I gave it to David, and now they’re following me. There are black limos parked outside my house and following me around. This is real. This is what they do.’”
Page Six has reached out to the Church of Scientology for comment.
Priscilla writes that although her daughter was a more fervent Scientologist than her, she had become “disillusioned” with the church.
Indeed, Lisa, who died at age 54 in January 2023, released a protest song called “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” on her 2012 album, “Storm and Grace.” In it, she refers to herself as “transgressive and suppressive” — Scientology terms for negative people.
The church has long come under fire by former Scientologists, including ‘”King of Queens” star Leah Remini, who filed a lawsuit back in August 2023 that alleged a harassment campaign against her and other “survivors.”
Remini, who has labeled Hollywood icon Tom Cruise as “essentially second in command” in the church, alleged that she was held at a Scientology facility for four months and “psychologically punished” after asking where Shelly Miscavige — the little-seen wife of Miscavige — was at Cruise’s 2006 Italian wedding to Katie Holmes. (The lawsuit is set to go to trial next month. Last year, a judge threw out a portion of the suit on the basis that some of the church’s attacks on her were protected under the First Amendment.)
The church grew out of the writings of science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, who came to believe that human bodies are a temporary home for immortal spirits known as “thetans.”
Its followers — estimated at 30,000 or more — have given the church a fortune widely estimated to be as large as $3 billion. But its secrecy and pay-as-you-go practices — it charges followers for courses and audit sessions — as well as encouraging members to sign billion-year pledges of servitude, have led to it being dubbed a “cult” by critics.
Priscilla writes that she was introduced to the church by her pal John Travolta, and brought her daughter into the fold after she was left “so broken” following Elvis’ death in August 1977. Priscilla believed it would be a “support system to help and guide her.”
Although she heard “sometimes-disturbing rumors about Scientology”, the former “Dallas” star said she had a “good experience” with the church, in part, because she worked with the Celebrity Centre, a Scientology hub specifically geared to famous people. Celbs, she writes, are “especially valuable” to the organization.
“It is likely that I was nurtured with great care because I was considered an asset; I could bring in new members. And I did,” she notes in the book.
Although she admits to being “naive”, the church was a “welcome and valuable part of my life,” she writes. “The doubts eventually came, but they came much later.”
Priscilla eventually left to support her daughter and also because the church wanted her to “loosen ties” with her parents, who were both Catholics.
“Ultimately, Lisa and I left the church at about the same time,” she writes. “She went out with a bang and a lot of headlines. I chose to go quietly. It was hard to leave. There were things about Scientology that I loved. I still miss it sometimes. I miss the auditing, which lifted some of my burdens. And I miss being part of a community with people like John Travolta, who first got me into Scientology. John remains my friend,” she writes.
“He was one of the first to call when my daughter passed away. I wish him well, along with the many good souls who pursue the same ideals I once hoped would help the world.”
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