Riley Keough Says Lisa Marie Presley ‘Died of a Broken Heart’

In a new interview with People, Lisa Marie Presley‘s daughter Riley Keough says that her brother Benjamin’s 2020 death played a big role in their mother’s death.

“My mom tried her best to find strength for me and my younger sisters after Ben died, but we knew how much pain she was in,” Keough relates. “My mom physically died from the after effects of her surgery, but we all knew she died of a broken heart.”

• Lisa Marie Presley died on Jan. 12, 2023 at the age of 54.
• Her primary cause of death was listed as a “sequeale of small bowel obstruction,” and other “significant condition” were noted as contributing factors, including a surgery that Presley had undergone years earlier.
• A toxicology report ruled out foul play, death by suicide or overdose.

Benjamin died by suicide in mid-2020, when he was 27 years old.

Keough isn’t the first to link her mother’s death to grief: Early this year, the singer’s mother, Priscilla Presley, said Presley suffered enduring emotional distress and inner turmoil in the years after Benjamin died.

“I know she wasn’t happy,” Priscilla noted at that time. “I know that when her son died that was really when she just didn’t wanna be here.”

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• Keough is one of four children born to the late singer.
• Presley shared her and Benjamin with her ex-husband Danny Keough, and she has 15-year-old twin daughters Finley and Harper with ex Michael Lockwood.
• Presley is the only child of Priscilla Presley and musical legend Elvis Presley.

Keough’s conversation with People was part of a preview into her mother’s memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown, which Keough finished writing after Presley’s death. The book is due out in early October.

Keough says that, prior to her mother’s death, she promised to help write the book. She listened to tapes of her mother’s recordings as she finished the book after Presley died, saying it was “incredibly difficult” to write about Benjamin’s death, her mother’s struggles with addiction and her mother’s death.

“[My mom] wanted to write a book in the hopes that someone could read her story and relate to her, to know that they’re not alone in the world,” Keough explains. “… Her hope with this book was just human connection. So that’s mine.”