Lisa Marie was born on February 1, 1968, to Elvis and Priscilla Presley at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, nine months to the day after her parents' May 1, 1967, wedding. After her parents divorced, she lived with her mother. When her father died in 1977, 9-year-old Lisa Marie became joint heir to his estate with her grandfather Vernon Presley and her great-grandmother Minnie Mae Presley. Following the deaths of Vernon in 1979 and Minnie Mae in 1980, she became the sole heir and inherited Graceland.

Lisa Marie Presley was indoctrinated into the Church of Scientology in 1977 by her mother, Priscilla. Priscilla had discovered books pertaining to Scientology among the belongings of her ex-husband, Elvis Presley, after his death on August 16, 1977.  In October 1997, Presley, along with friend and fellow Memphian and Scientologist Isaac Hayes, opened the Literacy, Education and Ability Program (LEAP). LEAP is run by Applied Scholastics, a group run by Scientologists.  On January 5, 2002, Presley received the Humanitarian Award from the World Literacy Crusade for her efforts to help children across America learn valuable skills for study and improve their lives. Lisa Marie Presley received her award from Isaac Hayes, Chaka Khan and Yolanda King, daughter of the late Martin Luther King Jr. World Literacy Crusade is regarded by critics as a front group for the Church of Scientology. On September 26 of that same year Lisa Marie Presley addressed a Congressional hearing in opposition to the use of medication in treating ADHD, stating: "I have spoken to children who have been forced to take a cocaine-like stimulant to control their behavior; I have shared their sense of sheer desperation. Children have been wrenched from their family's care simply because their parents favored an alternative, drug-free approach to addressing educational and behavioral problems. The psychotropic drugging of millions of children has to stop." These views reflected her beliefs as a Scientologist. Addressing the Committee as the International Spokesperson for Children's Rights, for the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a group run by Scientologists, Presley expressed her view that parents should be informed about alternatives to drugs so they may "make an informed choice about their child's educational and medical needs".  Presley officially defected from the church in 2016, though she had been experiencing growing dissent with Scientology as far back as 2008. Both her mother and daughter, Riley Keough, remain members.

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