Karen De La Carriere: Ex-Scientologist alleges Priscilla Presley used religion to control daughter Lisa Marie
CALABASAS, CALIFORNIA: Lisa Marie Presley's counselor Karen De La Carriere made some shocking revelations about her and her mother Priscilla Presley. Carriere claimed that she used Scientology to help control her daughter's behavioral problems. Their mother-daughter relationship was "hostile" and they were in "mortal combat" for their whole lives, she further said.
According to Daily Mail, Carriere said, "Priscilla then dominated poor Lisa. She grew up as a little princess. She was the daughter of the King of Rock 'n' Roll, living in luxury. But she had misery because she and her mother were adversaries."
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Who is Karen De La Carriere?
Karen De La Carriere is a former Scientologist. She was expelled from the church in 2010 for unethical and abusive conduct, according to whoiskarendelacarriere.org. She was born and raised in Calcutta, India, and moved to London in 1960. The counselor was married to Scientology president Heber Jentzsch from 1978-1989. Later, she married artist Jeffrey Augustine and lives in Los Angeles. She went on to become Presley's auditor while in Scientology.
Priscilla and Lisa's relationship
Carriere added, "She was in a bad mental condition, and had gone through a big loss. Elvis had died and, in her weak moment of great loss, Travolta persuaded her to come in. This is a girl, who is a second-generation Scientologist, who didn't elect to go into Scientology but was dragged into it because her parent was in it. She didn't want to be indoctrinated or attend courses."
Carriere said, "'It's really tragic that Lisa as a nine-year-old discovered her father's body. She was her daddy's princess, truly loved by him. That was a huge trauma for her. Lisa emphatically acted out like a child, taking drugs to forget every agony of losing her dad. Priscilla would get exasperated with her because she was a rebellious kid - she was not a kid who believed in rules and boundaries. She was a free spirit – ''I'll do what I want, whenever I want''. They were locked in mortal combat, the relationship was hostile,' added De La Carriere. 'It was adversarial."
Carriere also claimed that "there was such a power imbalance" between the mother-daughter duo. "Priscilla had all the power, she was the mom, the child can't run away at nine years old. What you can do to fight back is be rude, be disrespectful. Your only weapon is to be combative. Her mother got more and more worried. I think Lisa first started experimenting with drugs at 13 or 14 years old. The more Lisa fought back, the more Priscilla tried her own methods of control."
"So when I say locked in mortal combat, the two were not aligned at all. There was no harmony. A relationship of warfare, it was like living in a war zone. That would precipitate a child to do more drugs to get some kind of high away from misery. 'That's why I think Priscilla will take this death really hard, as the other person has died and you haven't made good," she added,
The former counselor of Lisa Marie also stated, "As an 11-year-old, Presley was dropped off by her mother at the church's celebrity center for hours, months on end, for obedience therapy. Priscilla would be scowling when this big limousine drove up to the celebrity center with a chauffeur and Lisa would be ordered out of the car to get her indoctrination and straighten herself out. I can't get into what came up in the sessions, it would be betraying trust. But any time she acted up, she was dropped off. The instructions from Priscilla were, ''Handle her, just do it'', and she'd be there for hours. Lisa had no choice. I believe this was enforced conversion therapy, it was obedience therapy. Lisa spent a couple of hours a day with me for months when I was her auditor or counselor. An 11-year-old shouldn't be forced into the indoctrination of anything."
Carriere's approach to Lisa
Carriere claims that she had a light approach while treating Lisa. She said, "I wasn't some Mother Superior with a cane, rapping her knuckles. I saw the sadness in her eyes. I saw how this force was superimposed on her against her will. Now I really regret it, I should have just refused and said, ''I'm not gonna do this to an 11-year-old girl, who doesn't want any of this. She did drugs and they forced this Scientology purification rundown on her. The rundown consists of sitting in a sauna for five hours a day, slowly taking more and more vitamins and minerals, until one is taking 5,000mg of niacin daily."
Further, she added, "Lisa had to do this procedure over and over because of her drug relapses ... doing this program, so she'll magically not want to do drugs anymore. If Elvis was alive, he would never, ever have let his daughter endure torturous purification rundowns, sending her to ethics, handing out morality punishments. And all the stuff she endured for 35 years, the absolute Scientology indoctrination, leading nowhere, with no result. He would never have allowed this. Scientology got tons of money out of her. Scientology touts itself as making you this high ethical spirit – you're more aware, you have more morals, you have more ethics, you're practically a Superman, you're more healthy. Well, she died a drug addict after being in Scientology 35 years."
'This will shake up Priscilla to the core'
Carriere further claimed that her recent revelations might shake up Priscilla. She said, "I predict that this will shake up Priscilla to the core. She can look at how much she tried to make Scientology work – and it did f**k all. Nothing. Excuse my language. There's no evidence that Priscilla, like Travolta, has been doing Scientology. When has Priscilla used any of its services?"
Further, she stated, "When a celebrity does take services, the word spreads like lightning. If Priscilla showed up in Clearwater, the word spreads," said De La Carriere, referencing the Florida city that is the hub of Scientology.
"Scientology can't resist putting it in their magazines to say, ''Look who's endorsing us." We haven't seen anything like that in years. So I don't know that Priscilla is really doing Scientology. She's already kind of drifted away. Scientology will desperately try to reel her back, say, ''Let us handle your grief,'' but I don't know that Priscilla will play ball anymore. I do feel that this will be an earthquake in Priscilla's world," Carriere further added.