Priscilla Presley has shared her feelings about the heartbreaking loss of her daughter Lisa Marie, admitting it 'took a long time to come to terms with the fact that Lisa was gone'.

Lisa Marie - daughter of music icon Elvis Presley - passed away at the age of 54 on January 12, 2023 due to a bowel obstruction that occurred as a complication from bariatric surgery she had undergone years earlier.

Her former husband, Danny Keough, discovered her unresponsive at home and rushed her to the hospital.

In her new memoir, Priscilla, now 80, delves deeply into the events of her daughter's final hours and the agony of having to make the decision to turn off her life support.

"Lisa really wasn't breathing, so she was on the ventilator," she told People.

"We spent hours waiting, hoping, and praying until the doctor came in and said, 'Priscilla, I'm so sorry, she's gone.' We just couldn't believe it - didn't want to believe it. It was devastating for all of us, and it still is."

Lisa Marie passed away in 2023 (Bryan Steffy/WireImage)

In her memoir Softly, As I Leave You: Life after Elvis, shared with People, Priscilla poignantly reveals that 'from the first moment' she entered the hospital room, she sensed Lisa-Marie 'was already gone'.

She explained: "She was connected to a machine that was breathing for her, and she had a heartbeat. However, there was minimal brain activity. Her vibrant spirit wasn’t there.

"Riley [Lisa Marie's daughter] later told us that while she was still on her flight, she felt her mother’s spirit pass. But none of us was ready to give up yet."

Priscilla continued to describe the torment of hearing the emergency alarm in the hospital room.

"At some point, a nurse took me to another room, where [my cousin] Ivy came forward to meet me. The nurse instructed Ivy to ensure that I ate and drank something. My cousin took my arm, but then we heard an emergency alarm from Lisa’s room. It was a code blue; Lisa’s heart had stopped. As I moved back towards my daughter, the nurse held Ivy back and whispered to her," she recounted. "Nodding toward me, she told Ivy, 'Come with us. I need you to stand right behind her. She’s going to fall, and you will need to catch her'."

The medical team managed to restart Lisa Marie's heart, but they could not determine whether it would continue to beat, leading to the painful decision to remove her from the machine.

Priscilla is set to release a new memoir (CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images)

"The next memory I have is of the doctor speaking to me. He asked what I wanted him to do. Although they had restarted Lisa’s heart, there was no assurance it would keep beating. I asked the doctor, 'What kind of life will she have if we keep her on that machine?'" Priscilla recalled.

"He looked at me with compassion and shook his head. 'No quality of life at all.'

"I thought about my daughter, my wild, rebellious, passionate girl, lying in a vegetative state for the rest of her life.

"I said what I had to. 'Take her off the machine, Doctor.' My voice was barely above a whisper."

Priscilla went on to write that at one point 'everything went dark' and that the trauma is so painful that she 'doesn't want to remember'.

"The nurse began to unhook the apparatus that kept Lisa’s chest rising and falling. I looked at Danny and said, “We have to tell them, Danny. So they can say goodbye," she recalled emotionally.

"But as I began to move toward the door, I heard Danny’s anguished cry. 'No, Nona! Don’t go! We can’t leave her all alone!'

"It was unbearable. I began to sob. I don’t remember falling. I know that Ivy caught me. After that, everything went dark. I can’t remember. I don’t want to remember."

“It hasn’t been easy at all,” Priscilla said. “But you have to find strength.”

If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.