Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis’s Only Child, Dies @ 54

Elvis died tragically young at 42 of heart disease. Now, on January 12, 2023, his only child — singer Lisa Marie Presley — has died at 54 following what was reportedly "full cardiac arrest."

A rare image of Lisa Marie Presley with her four kids (Image via Instagram)

Lisa Marie had just been at the Golden Globes to support Elvis, the authorized Baz Luhrmann biopic about her dad.

There, she appeared ghastly thin and even unsteady on her feet.

Still, her death is a shock to many.

Lisa Marie has seemed withdrawn ever since the death by suicide of her son Benjamin Keough, who died July 12, 2020, at 27. Referring to his death as leaving her "destroyed," Lisa Marie wrote in 2022, on the occasion of National Grief Awareness Day, that "grief does not stop or go away in any sense," admitting that if grief has a hold over you, you must live with it "for the rest of your life."

Of Benjamin's death, she wrote, "I already battle with and beat myself up tirelessly and chronically, blaming myself every single day and that’s hard enough to now live with, but others will judge and blame you too, even secretly or behind your back which is even more cruel and painful on top of everything else."

Born February 1, 1968, to Elvis (1935-1977) and Priscilla Presley (b. 1945), Lisa Marie was treated like royalty from Day One ... and mistreated like royalty, too. She was frequently featured in gossip publications in the years before the media pondered whether children should be off-limits. Lisa Marie, heir apparent to the throne of rock, was very much on-limits, at all times.

Her dad died when she was 9, which left her — with her grandfather — the co-heir of his colossal estate and home, Graceland. Her grandfather died soon after, making Lisa Marie, still a child, holder of all the keys.

Her childhood was fraught with lows, including — she said in an interview with Playboy (2003) — sexual interference by a man who was dating her mother.

The world awaited the birth of Lisa Marie as a new queen of rock, but it wasn't until 2003 when, in her mid-thirties, she released a debut album, To Whom It May Concern. The bluesy set went Top 5. It was followed by Now What (2005), a Top 10, and Storm & Grace (2012).

Her only pop hit was "Lights Out," her first single, but she released several more, including a virtual duet with Elvis on his track "In the Ghetto" in 2007 and another with her dad's vocals in 2012, "I Love You Because."

Lisa Marie's music career came with three full tours, in 2003, 2005 and 2012, the last ending in 2014.

But Lisa Marie was still treated more as a curiosity than as an artist in her own right. She undercut any chance she had at normalcy with husband #2, Michael Jackson (1958-2009). It seemed Jackson, famous for collecting things like the Elephant Man's bones, was adding Elvis's progeny to his holdings, and though their relationship was high-profile — including a 1994 kiss on the MTV Video Music Awards and endless media scrutiny — it was over in two years.

Still, they remained friendly, with Lisa Marie stating she felt "shattered" when the King of Pop died young, at just 50.

Her marriage to third husband Nicolas Cage (b. 1964) lasted about as long as her union with Jackson. A fourth marriage ended badly.

Lisa Marie also stoked controversy as a practicing Scientologist for years, but was thought to have walked away from the org. Reports conflict as to whether she had fully left it behind.

Lisa Marie is survived by her mom; her three children, actress Riley Keough (b. 1989) and twin daughters Harper and Finley Lockwood (b. 2008); and by close friends and family, including her first ex-husband, Danny Keough (b. 1964), who was living with Lisa Marie at the time she took ill, even performing CPR on her until paramedics arrived.

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