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"It's just devastating," he said of her death.
Austin Butler is recalling his special connection with the late Lisa Marie Presley.
While appearing on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on Monday night, the 31-year-old "Elvis" actor spoke on his "immediate" bond with the daughter of Elvis Presley upon the release of the King of Rock N' Roll's biopic.
Lisa Marie died on Jan. 12 at age 54, days after appearing at the Golden Globe Awards, where Butler was honored for his performance.
"I first met Lisa when we screened the film at Graceland," the "Carrie Diaries" alum recalled to host Jimmy Fallon. "I've never had an experience where I met somebody and felt an immediate depth of relationship with them."
Following the screening, Butler said Lisa Marie led him to her father's bedroom -- a room Graceland's visitors never get to see -- to show him Elvis' slippers.
"I get goosebumps," Austin gushed. "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 says, 'I wanna show you something,' so she took me up there. It was moments like that ... up there, he was not Elvis, he was just 'dad,' you know?"
He noted how Lisa Marie received him warmly when she didn't need to and said how her "devastated" he is for her family.
"She's also — she's a person who didn't have anything to prove and wouldn't open up to anybody and she opened up to me. We got so close so fast and it's just devastating," Butler continued. "It's weird in moments like this because it's so bittersweet."
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Priscilla Presley Says It's Been 'Dark Painstaking Journey' Following Lisa Marie's Death
View Story"I mean, so much great stuff is happening, but I'm just devastated for her family. And for her to not be here celebrating with us, you know ..." he said. "I'm happy I got to be with her at the (Golden) Globes, I'll never forget that for the rest of my life."
Lisa Marie died on January 12 at the age of 54, after being rushed to the hospital following a cardiac episode.
Presley is survived by her three children — including twin daughters Harper and Finley, 14, and actress Riley Keough — and her mother; she had a son Benjamin, who died in 2020.
