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Priscilla Presley tells PEOPLE in this week's cover story that she was once told she would have to sell ex Elvis Presley's beloved Graceland mansion, as it was bleeding money following his death

The businesswoman had been named trustee after Elvis' father Vernon died in 1979

Priscilla also reveals how she turned the estate around by opening it up to the public

Elvis Presley's beloved Graceland mansion almost wasn't the historical landmark it is today.

When Elvis died of a heart attack at age 42 in 1977 , Graceland was left in the hands of his father Vernon. When Vernon died at 63 in 1979, he named Elvis' ex-wife Priscilla Presley as trustee.

At the time, as Priscilla writes in her new memoir Softly as I Leave You: Life After Elvis , out Sept. 23, Graceland was

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