She had been on the red carpet at the Golden Globes earlier that week, so when news of her death broke on Thursday, January 12, 2023 a lot of fans were left wondering how Lisa Marie Presley died. She was only 54, after all.
On Tuesday, January 10, 2023, LMP made an appearance at the Golden Globes where Austin Butler won Best Actor for his portrayal of her father, Elvis, in the Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic bearing “The King’s name. Lisa Marie interrupted Austin’s red carpet interview, describing his performance as her famous dad as “truly mind-blowing.” She continued: “I really didn’t know what to do with myself after I saw it,” she recalled. “I had to take, like, five days to process it because it was so incredible and so spot on and just so authentic that, yeah, I can’t even describe what it meant.”
During Austin’s acceptance speech at the awards show, he expressed his gratitude to the Presleys for accepting him and his embodiment of this iconic musician. “The Presley family, thank you guys for opening your hearts, your memories, your home to me,” he said. “Lisa Marie and Priscilla, I love you forever.” But on Thursday, Lisa Marie Presley was rushed to hospital and just hours later, she was pronounced dead.
How did Lisa Marie Presley die?
How did Lisa Marie Presley die? Elvis’ only child passed away after suffering from suspected cardiac arrest. News of her death was confirmed by her mother, Priscilla, who issued a statement. “It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” her mother Priscilla confirmed to People.
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“She was the most passionate strong and loving woman I have ever known. We ask for privacy as we try to deal with this profound loss. Thank you for the love and prayers. At this time there will be no further comment.” LMP was merely weeks away from celebrating her 55th birthday on February 1, 2023.
According to TMZ, EMTs were called to Lisa Marie’s home in Calabasas on the morning of January 12. The outlet reported Lisa Marie’s housekeeper found her unresponsive in her bedroom and her ex-husband, musician Danny Keough, was said to have performed CPR until paramedics arrived.
In a 911 call obtained by the New York Post, Lisa Marie’s housekeeper frantically called dispatchers and Danny was passed the phone shortly after. “Hi,” the man on the call said. “Sir, listen, paramedics [are] already on the way,” the 911 operator assured before asking if the ambulance needed to know anything to be able to get to the home. “No, there’s a security gate in the neighborhood, but they’ll just let them through,” he said. Lisa Marie and Danny had been living together for some time, having married in 1988 and separating six years later.
They had two children together, daughter Riley in 1989 and son Benjamin in 1992. They called it quits in May 1994 but they remained close. “We are like brother and sister, so it is not weird at all,” she said of her relationship with Keough in an interview with People in 2015. “Ultimately this is a good message to send out to people: You don’t have to put your crap on your kids even if you are not together. You can still be civilized. I knew at the age that I had the kids with him that Danny was someone I could be connected with for the rest of my life. I knew he would be a good father.”
On the day of her death, Lisa Marie was reported to have gone into “full arrest” and had epinephrine administered at the scene at least once to help her regain her pulse. Epinephrine, more commonly known as adrenaline, is often administered to treat many life-threatening conditions such as cardiac arrests, asthma attacks and allergic reactions.
They also performed CPR and were able to regain her pulse before loading her into an ambulance to the ER. Photos obtained by TMZ showed Priscilla arriving at the hospital to be by her daughter’s side earlier that afternoon. According to the outlet, Lisa’s family ordered a Do Not Resuscitate since she was brain-dead while arriving at the hospital. Lisa Marie suffered a second cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
On January 14, 2023, Sarah Ardalani, a spokesperson with the L.A. County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner, told CNN, “Presley was examined on Jan. 14 and the cause of death was deferred” She continued, “Deferred means that after an autopsy, a cause of death has not been determined and the medical examiner is requesting more investigation into the death, including additional studies. Once the tests/studies come back, the doctor evaluates the case again and makes the cause of death determination.”
On January 30, 2023, family sources told TMZ that Lisa Marie’s opioid addiction had relapsed and she was undergoing an extreme weight loss regime in the months leading up to her death because she “wanted to look her best” to celebrate Elvis at the various award shows. “Our sources say two months before the Golden Globes, Lisa Marie got plastic surgery and began taking weight loss meds. We’re told she lost 40 to 50 pounds in the 6 weeks leading up to the Globes,” the tabloid reported. “Our family sources say Lisa Marie was taking opioids again—an addiction she struggled with for years.”
Where is Lisa Marie Presley buried?
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Lisa Marie Presley will be buried in her father’s estate of Graceland, Tenessee. “Lisa Marie’s final resting place will be at Graceland, next to her beloved son Ben,” a statement from her daughter Riley Keough’s rep to People read. Her son Benjamin Keough died by suicide at the age of 27 in 2020. He was the first person to be buried in the Graceland estate forty years after Elvis’ mother was buried there.
In 2019, Lisa Marie opened up about grappling with an addiction to prescription painkillers. In the foreword for Harry Nelson’s book The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain, she wrote that she was “grateful to be alive today,” after being prescribed opioids for pain after the birth of her daughters Vivienne and Finley.
“It only took a short-term prescription of opioids in the hospital for me to feel the need to keep taking them,” she wrote. “[I’m] grateful to be alive today… and to have four beautiful children who have given me a sense of purpose that has carried me through dark times.”
She told the Today show in August 2018 that her addiction problems began about six years prior “It’s a difficult path to overcome this dependence and to put my life back together,” she continued in the foreword to Nelson’s book. “Even in recent years, I have seen too many people I loved struggle with addiction and die tragically from this epidemic. It is time for us to say goodbye to shame about addiction. We have to stop blaming and judging ourselves and the people around us … That starts with sharing our stories.”
Image: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images.
Lisa Marie leaves behind four children, Benjamin, actor Riley Keough, Finley and Harper Vivienne. She has been married four times, including to pop star Michael Jackson for two years, tying the knot with the King of Pop less than a month after her marriage to Keough came to an end.
In an interview with Healthy Living in 2014, Lisa Marie said she was “ferociously protective” over her kids. “I just smother them in love,” she shared. “They are my priority. That’s what I do. That’s what I care most about. I keep them close to me and make sure they are happy and healthy.”
Riley praised her mother’s strength in an interview with People in December 2022. “My mother is certainly an inspiration to me,” Keough said. “I was raised by somebody who did their own thing and didn’t really care what other people thought. She was definitely inspirational to me.”
Lisa Marie is the only child of Elvis Presley, often referred to as The King of Rock ‘n Roll, and her mother Priscilla. Lisa Marie’s mother and father met in November 1959 when he was 24 years old and she was 14 years old. They married in Las Vegas May 1, 1967, and welcomed their first and only child together, Lisa Marie, nine months later on February 1, 1968. He was so enamored with her that the “Blue Suede Shoes” singer named his private jet after his daughter, dubbing it the Lisa Marie.
In the 2005 memoir Elvis: By the Presleys
, which she wrote with her mom, Lisa Marie described fond memories of growing up on the Graceland property in Tennessee and said it was “amazing” and “filled with energy and excitement.”
“If [Elvis] was in a good mood, it was going to be a great day. We’d ride horses or ride around in golf carts. The thing about my father is that he never hid anything. If he was crabby, you knew it,” she wrote. “His temper could give Darth Vader a run for his money. But if he was happy, everyone was happy. He’d never bore you.”
Image: Per-Anders Pettersson/ Getty Images
Elvis and Priscilla were married for four years before their separation in 1972. They finalized their divorce a year later on October 9, 1973, and went on to share custody of Lisa Marie before Elvis’ death on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42 years old. Lisa Marie was only nine when she tragically lost her father.
During an interview with Radar Online in February 2019, Lisa Marie recalled the last time she saw her father alive. “I don’t like talking about this,” she said, speaking about the night Elvis died at his Graceland home. “It was 4 a.m. I was supposed to be asleep, actually. He found me.” Her father kissed her goodnight, which was “the last time I saw him alive.”
During an interview to promote a duet with Elvis, released in 2018, “Where No One Stands Alone,” Lisa Marie revealed she still asks her dad for guidance during some moments of her life. “I wouldn’t say I talk to him… I just remember everything. I can sort of pull out of the files whatever memories I have and stuff like that. And occasionally ask for help. Which was the case with this record. I just felt like a hand come down to me, it felt like that a little bit,” she said on the UK talk show Lorraine.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, help is available. Call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for free, confidential support.
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For more about Elvis and his family, including his marriage to Priscilla and raising his only daughter, Lisa Marie, you have to read Elvis by the Presleys; an intimate account of life at the Graceland ranch by the people who knew it best. This revealing memoir features hours of exclusive family interviews, quotes from The King himself as well as private photos and family memorabilia from the Graceland and Elvis Presley archives.
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