Lisa Marie Presley's Book Claims She 'Woke Up' to Mom Priscilla Presley's Boyfriend Molesting Her at Age 10

Lisa Marie Presley was molested by mom Priscilla Presley’s boyfriend, actor and model Michael Edwards, when she was just 10 years old, the late star claims in her new posthumous memoir.

Lisa Marie, whose book From Here to the Great Unknown was finished with the help of daughter Riley Keough, writes that Edwards — who has denied her claims — would come into her room at night when she was a child, and later, as she grew older, would “touch me and spank me,” often to the point that she’d develop bruises.

Priscilla, 79, dated Edwards, 80, for about six years in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Lisa Marie writes that the Mommie Dearest actor had a “horrible temper,” and once threw a dining room chair at her, hitting her in the back. 

The first time he allegedly assaulted her, Lisa Marie was 10, she writes, and “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 writes that Edwards told her he was “going to teach me what was going to happen when I got older,” and that he put a hand between her legs and “gently kissed” her before leaving her room.

The next day, Lisa Marie says she told Priscilla what had happened, and the actress later told Lisa Marie that Edwards wanted to apologize.

“Edwards was sitting on their bed looking very sullen and sulky,” she writes. “He said, ‘I’m so sorry, but in Europe that’s how they teach the kids, so that’s what I was doing.’ 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.”

Lisa Marie says she once showed Priscilla her bruised bottom, and alleges Edwards excused his behavior by saying he was either drunk, or that Lisa Marie was “actually flirting” with him.

In a statement shared with PEOPLE, Edwards said Lisa Marie's claims were "absolutely untrue."

"I never molested Lisa Marie and am shocked at the suggestion that I did," he said. "I was encouraged to embellish a harmless anecdote about Lisa Marie in my memoir from the 1980s and now regret that I did. I understand that these stories sell books, but the notion that I molested Lisa Marie is just a fabrication."

The actor wrote about his relationship with Priscilla in the 1988 book Priscilla, Elvis, and Me — and in the book, he reportedly wrote about the sexual attraction he felt toward a young Lisa Marie.

In one passage in his book, Edwards writes of a “disturbing” afternoon he spent in the pool with Lisa Marie, during which she’d “innocently thrown her arms around me, and we were jumping up and down.”

“I became aroused,” he wrote. “A sick feeling crept slowly into the pit of my stomach. I was craving Lisa sexually.”

Edwards' daughter Caroline Van Zandt also shared a statement with PEOPLE, saying she was "close friends" with Lisa Marie while their parents were dating.

"We were confidants, like sisters, sharing all our secrets and complaining about our parents as typical teenagers do," Caroline said. "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 addressed her feelings about Edwards’ book in a 2003 interview with Playboy, calling the actor a “sick f---.”

“I know he wrote a book and said he lusted after my developing body as I got out of a pool,” she said. “He made his attempts at coming into my room and being inappropriate while drunk.”

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.