Austin Butler reflects on his ‘immediate’ connection to Lisa Marie Presley

Austin Butler candidly opened up about his instant connection to Lisa Marie Presley for the first time.

During his latest appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the Elvis star, 31, opened up about his friendship with the late Lisa Marie.

"I first met Lisa when we screened the film at Graceland," Butler recalled. "And I've never had an experience where I met somebody and felt an immediate depth of relationship to them."

"She was a person who didn't really have anything to prove and wouldn't open up to everybody, and she just opened up to me," he added, somberly, "and we got so close, so fast. So, yeah, it's just devastating."

Butler played the late icon’s father Elvis Presley in his biopic Elvis, which earned him a nomination in the Best Lead Actor category at the 2023 Oscars.

During that first meeting, Butler said that Lisa Marie took him on a tour of the iconic Graceland estate, and brought him to see Elvis' slippers and his actual bedroom.

"[I] get goosebumps," Butler recalled. "That was after we screened the film and the bedroom, you know, his bedroom is a place that most people never get to see. And she said, 'I want to show you something.' And she took me up there we just sat in his bedroom. And up there, he's not Elvis, he was just dad, you know?"

"And so, to hear those stories, I truly will treasure that forever," he added.

Lisa Marie passed away after suffering cardiac arrest, just two days after Butler won a Golden Globe for his performance in Elvis.