Warning: This article contains references of suicide that some readers may find distressing.
Lisa Marie Presley’s daughter, Riley Keough, has responded after her mum admitted to keeping her brother’s body in her house for two months after his death.
Lisa, who is the child of 'The King' Elvis and Priscilla Presley, made the confession in her posthumous memoir titled From Here to the Great Unknown, which hit shelves this week.
Advert
The memoir was published almost two years after her tragic passing in January 2023, following complications from bariatric surgery.
Three years prior, however, Lisa devastatingly lost her 27-year-old son, Benjamin Keough, after he took his own life.
Benjamin had a funeral service in Malibu and was eventually buried in Graceland, where his grandfather Elvis was also put to rest.
However, it was only upon reading Lisa's memoir that fans of the family learned that the mother-of-two had actually kept her son's dead body in her house for over eight weeks following his unexpected death.
It was 'really important' for Lisa to 'have ample time to say goodbye to him, the same way she'd done with her dad' Elvis, who passed away when she was just nine years old in 1977.
"Having my dad in the house after he died was incredibly helpful because I could go and spend time with him and talk to him," Lisa Marie wrote.
Speaking to People, Riley revealed her mum 'wouldn't care what people said' about her decision to keen Benjamin's body on dry ice for two months after his death in her home.
"The truth is that it was COVID and the plans to bury him were really unclear," the American Honey star explained.
"We needed to get to Graceland, and it was really hard because it was COVID, and we didn't know who was going to come, so there was a lot of planning that needed to happen."
She shared that Lisa wanted Benjamin 'to be in her control', adding: "She didn't want his body to be somewhere where people could mess with it.
"We come from a family that's pretty high-profile, so I think she ultimately just felt like she wanted to be in control of the situation.
"If my mom were here, she'd be like, 'Yeah, whatever. I don't care. If people think that's crazy, they can go f*ck themselves'."
Riley resolved: "A lot of our life was very happy.
"The tragedy within my family has been so heartbreaking, but we also had an incredible amount of fun and these beautiful experiences that I don't know if people get to have very often.
"I feel extremely grateful for that."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.
Rhiannon Ingle