Lisa Marie Presley has sued a British newspaper for alleging that she was piling on the pounds because of her unhealthy appetite, her lawyer said today.

Presley, who is pregnant, alleges in a suit filed at London's High Court on Friday that the story in Britain's Daily Mail was slanderous and degrading. The newspaper has since reported on the 40-year-old singer's pregnancy.

"Once they got a glimpse of my expanding physique a few days ago, they have been like a pack of coyotes circling their prey whilst eerily howling with delight," she said on her blog.

The daughter of the late singer Elvis Presley claims the pictures taken at a Hollywood restaurant last week forced her to go public about the baby she is having with her fourth husband, music producer Michael Lockwood.

"It really upset her," Presley's attorney Jo Paton told The Associated Press. "She was about to announce her pregnancy and was shocked and hurt by the unkind article about her appearance."

Paton said Presley was seeking an apology and damages.

The Daily Mail said the first indication they had of Presley's complaint was when they were served with court documents.

"We are investigating the matter," the newspaper said in a statement.

The child will be Presley's third.

She has an 18-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son from her first marriage to musician Danny Keough, which ended in 1994. She was briefly married to Michael Jackson and to actor Nicholas Cage.

She married Lockwood in January 2006.