The daughter of the King of Rock and Roll opened up about the loss of her beloved son in her posthumous memoir
Before her tragic death in January 2023, Lisa Marie Presley was penning a memoir about her incredible life as the only child of the King of Rock and Roll.
As well as detailing the trials and tribulations which come with being the daughter of a legend like Elvis, she also delved into her career, relationships, parenting, and her experience with grief.
And one of the most heartbreaking revelations in her new book – which was released posthumously and completed by her daughter Riley Keough – is how she dealt with the death of her beloved son Benjamin in July 2020.
Presley’s memoir, titled From Here to the Great Unknown, hit the shelves yesterday (8 October) and has apparently been a real page-turner, according to fans of the late singer.
As well as dishing the dirt on her marriage to Michael Jackson, the 54-year-old opened up about the loss of arguably the two most important men in her life, and why she believes keeping their bodies at home benefited her.
Benjamin – who was affectionally referred to as ‘Ben Ben’ by those closest to him – was found dead in Calabasas, California, four years ago after taking his own life.
This obviously devastated the entire family, but Presley in particular was left ‘beyond devastated’ by the death of her child, who she previously said had an ‘uncanny’ resemblance to Elvis.
Discussing how she dealt with the tragedy, the mother-of-four explained that her Los Angeles home boasted a ‘separate casitas bedroom’ which is where she kept Ben’s corpse on dry ice for two months.
The 27-year-old’s body was kept in the separate room at 55 degrees.
“There is no law in the state of California that you have to bury someone immediately,” Presley wrote.
Lisa Marie Presley opened up about how she dealt with the death of her 27-year-old son Benjamin (Dave M. Benett/Getty Images)
She praised a compassionate funeral home owner for helping her arrange the setup, while her daughter Riley added that it was ‘really important’ for Presley to ‘have ample time to say goodbye, the same way she did with her dad’ Elvis.
The singer was only nine years old when the Jailhouse Rock hitmaker passed away in 1977, and explains in her memoir that having his open casket in Graceland before his burial was ‘incredibly helpful’ in her grieving process.
Presley wrote that she got to ‘spend time’ and to ‘talk to’ her dad before saying her final goodbye, and wanted to replicate this when she was preparing to let Ben go too.
The mourning mother explained that she also kept her son’s body close because she was debating over whether to bury him in Hawaii or in Graceland alongside Elvis.
“That was part of why it took so long,” Presley explained in her memoir. “I got so used to him, caring for him and keeping him there. I think it would scare the living f**kng piss out of anybody else to have their son there like that. But not me.
“I felt so fortunate that there was a way that I could still parent him, delay it a bit longer so that I could become okay with laying him to rest.”
The mother-of-four kept his body in a temperature-controlled room at her LA home on dry ice for two months (Michael Tran/FilmMagic)
The book also reveals that before Ben’s burial, Presley and her daughter decided to get matching inkings in his honour and invited the tattoo artist in to see the ones he had so they could replicate them.
Elvis’ grandson had his sister’s name on his collarbone and his mother’s on his hand.
In From Here to the Great Unknown, Riley writes: “I’ve had an extremely absurd life, but this moment is in the top five.”
Shortly after their inkings were complete, the movie star, 35, explained that she and her relatives ‘got this vibe from Ben’ that he no longer wanted his body lingering in the family home.
Riley wrote: “‘Guys,’ he seemed to be saying, ‘This is getting weird’. Even my mom said that she could feel him talking to her, saying, ‘This is insane, Mom, what are you doing? What the f**k!'”
Ben was laid to rest alongside to his legendary grandfather in Graceland in October 2020, as Presley was following her passing last year following a small bowel obstruction.
Featured Image Credit: Michael Tran/FilmMagic/Dave M. Benett/Getty Images
