LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Lisa Marie Presley’s godfather and Elvis Presley’s close friend, Jerry Schilling, reportedly played a “key” role in resolving Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough’s feud over the former’s multimillion-dollar estate. Inside sources revealed that Schilling allegedly helped broker the settlement which prompted Priscilla and Keough to reach an agreement on Tuesday, May 16, nearly four months after Lisa Marie’s death from cardiac arrest.
“Schilling is the ultimate peacemaker,” the insider from Las Vegas told the Daily Mail. “Jerry holds a really unique status in that family,” they added. “He was the one who kept the conversations going between the two women while the lawyers were doing their thing,” the source said. “Jerry was the one listening to both women and pushing for reconciliation away from court. And clearly his efforts worked,” they concluded.
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Who is Jerry Schilling?
Schilling is an 81-year-old American talent manager, who was a member of Elvis Presley’s Memphis Mafia from the 1960s. In addition to Lisa Marie Presley, Schilling’s other clients included Jerry Lee Lewis and The Beach Boys. The manager, who has long been known for his association with the Presley family, first became friends with the “King of Rock and Roll” while playing football in Memphis in 1954.
Despite Schilling being only 12 years old and Presley being seven years his senior, the duo struck a close friendship and remained friends until the latter’s death in 1977. Schilling also developed a close bond with Priscilla during her six-year marriage to Elvis and became a trusted confidante of the family. During his years with Elvis, Schilling even acted as the latter’s stunt double in movies.
The ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ hitmaker even asked Schilling to stay with him and Priscilla at Graceland while the latter was pregnant and gave birth to Lisa Marie in early 1968. An inside source recently told the Daily Mail that Schilling has been a “rock” and “key part” of the Presley family for nearly 70 years.
He was a godfather to Lisa Marie and is referred to as “Uncle Jerry” by Keough. Schilling even hired Lisa Marie as his secretary before becoming her manager during the peak of her pop career.
In 2006 Schilling wrote a book about his bond with Elvis titled ‘Me and a Guy Named Elvis,’ which highlighted the highs and lows of the rock and roll icon’s life. Schilling even officiated Keough’s wedding to Australian stuntman Ben Smith-Petersen at the Calistoga Ranch in California's Napa Valley in 2015. He also supported Priscilla and Lisa Marie when they decided to provide support to Baz Luhrmann's 2022 Oscar-nominated film ‘Elvis.’
The talent manager even spoke at Lisa Marie's memorial in Memphis on January 22, 2023. During his speech, Schilling revealed that he nicknamed the late singer ‘Memphis’ and recalled how Elvis asked him to stay at his residence for the birth of his daughter.
‘He has been a rock to all of them’
In the wake of Lisa Marie’s tragic death in January, her mother, Priscilla, and oldest daughter, Riley, found themselves involved in a legal war against each other over a 2016 amendment to the former’s living trust, which removed Priscilla and her former business manager as trustees and gave control to Riley and Lisa Marie’s late son Benjamin instead.
Priscilla’s lawyers filed a petition questioning the “authenticity and validity” of the amendment just days after Lisa Marie's memorial, prompting a legal battle. However, earlier this year, lawyers at a Los Angeles probate court announced that the two had “reached a settlement.” Sources later told the Daily Mail that Schilling has been “doing his best to ease the family through their fall-out after Lisa Marie's passing” and played an instrumental role in the settlement.
The source said Schilling saw it as his duty “to support his late friend Elvis’ wishes.” They added, “Elvis would have been devastated at suggestions of his wife and grandchild being in court on opposite sides.” The insider also mentioned that “Jerry has always seen himself as a protector of Elvis’ wishes and Graceland too” and wanted the family to resolve their legal dispute.
“Jerry was always adamant that things could be worked out rather than exploding into a big legal war,” the insider shared. “He has maintained dialogue and cordial conversation between the ladies and other family members,” they revealed. “He was pivotal in the family working now to make a long-term peace. He likes to stay in the background on these matters, but cares deeply for Riley and Priscilla,” the source mentioned. “He has been a rock to all of them at many times and navigated them through the good and bad times,” they added.