CNN
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The only daughter of the late Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley, singer Lisa Marie Presley has spent her life in the spotlight from the very beginning.
Public interest in her life—from her marriage to her private tragedies—never waned until, like her father, she was taken away prematurely.
Lisa Marie Presley died Thursday of apparent cardiac arrest. She is 54 years old.
“Priscilla Presley and the Presley family are shocked and saddened by the tragic loss of their beloved Lisa Marie,” said a statement provided to CNN by the family. “They greatly appreciate everyone’s support, love and prayers and ask for privacy at this very difficult time.”
Lisa Marie and Priscilla Presley attended the Golden Globes in support of Baz Luhrmann’s film Elvis, starring actor Austin Butler, days before being hospitalized, The latter won the award for playing the king.
The Photo Life of Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley was born in 1968, at the height of Elvis Presley’s fame, and the man known as the “King of Rock and Roll” considered her a princess.
Elvis and Priscilla Presley separated in 1972, when their daughter was four, and she was nine when her father died in 1977. He is 42 years old.
Soon, she was acting and experimenting with drugs, leading her mother to send her to a series of private schools, including a boarding school in Ojai. Lisa Marie Presley noted to the Los Angeles Times in 2003 that as a child she was “a bit lonely, a sad and strange kid”.
“For a while I had a real self-destructive mode,” she told the publication. “I never really fit into school. I didn’t really have any direction.”
She is also the eventual sole heir to Elvis Presley’s estate, as well as Graceland, his mansion in Memphis, Tennessee. However, her father’s strong and looming legacy did not make her give up her desire to pursue a career in music.
Lisa Marie Presley released her debut studio album “To Whom It May Concern” in 2003, which hit the top of the charts. debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 album chart and went gold that summer. She wrote nearly all of the lyrics on the album and co-wrote every melody.
At the time, Lisa Marie Presley told Larry King she had to “let go” of the stress and comparisons to her legendary singer father.
“If I’ve been thinking about it, worrying about it, I’ve been for a long time, I’m never going to do what’s inherent in my heart, in my soul,” she said. “So I had to stop worrying about it, or it would be scary.”
Around the same time, Lisa Marie Presley reflected on whether her fame got in the way or helped, telling Playboy that she didn’t “let the tabloids come after me every week.”
But, she added, she “will never take back any part of who I am or where I came from.”
“I never wanted to be a part of anything else,” she said. “I am honored and proud of my family and my father.”
The first record was followed by two more albums, “Now What” in 2005 and “Storm & Grace” in 2012.
While pursuing music, Lisa Marie Presley was married four times, including to music superstar Michael Jackson and actor Nicolas Cage.
She married musician Danny Keough in 1988 and they have a daughter, Riley Keough, and a son, Benjamin Storm Keough.
The couple divorced in May 1994, about three weeks before Lisa Marie Presley married Jackson in a wedding that made headlines around the world.
She said of Jackson in a 2003 interview with ABC News and Diane Sawyer: “When he wants to lock you up, when he wants to seduce you or capture you, or you know, whatever he wants to do to you , he can do it all.” She added that she “got into a situation like, ‘You poor, sweet, misunderstood man, I’ll save you.'” …I fell in love with him.
Their marriage ended in January 1996.
Two years later, she married Cage after meeting him at a party, but they were only married for three months, from August to November 2002. The divorce was finalized in 2004.
Her fourth marriage was in 2006, to her guitarist, music producer and director Michael Lockwood. The couple welcomed twins Finley Aaron Love Lockwood and Harper Vivian Ann Lockwood in 2008. They divorced in 2016.
In 2020, Lisa Marie Presley’s son, Benjamin Keough, committed suicide at the age of 27. She marked the second anniversary of Keough’s death on Instagram last July, sharing a photo of their matching foot tattoo.
Last September, she wrote an essay for National Grief Awareness Day in which she opened up about the loss of her son.
“My three daughters and I’s lives as we knew them were completely ignited and destroyed by his death. We live here every. single. day,” she wrote. “Despite what some people or our culture want us to believe, grief is something you’ll carry with you for the rest of your life. You don’t ‘get over it,’ you don’t ‘move on,’ and that’s it.”
Presley also said in the article that she found comfort in the company of people facing similar tragedies, adding that her daughter helped keep her grounded.
“I continue to work hard for my girls,” she wrote. “I’ve stuck with it because my son made it very clear in the last moments of his life that taking care of and caring for his little sister was the most important thing and concern for him. He absolutely adores them and they adore him.”
As news of Lisa Marie Presley’s death spread, mourning poured in.
“This is devastating news. Lisa has the best laugh I’ve ever met. She lights up every room and I’m so sad,” Cage told his manager Mike Neron on Thursday. said in a statement provided. “I take some comfort in believing she is reunited with her son Benjamin.”
Luhrmann paid tribute to Lisa Marie Presley on Instagram on Friday, saying: “We will miss your warmth, your smile and your love.”
“Over the past year, the entire ‘Elvis’ film family and I have felt honored by Lisa Marie’s loving embrace. Her sudden, shocking passing has left the world devastated,” he wrote road.
Actor John Travolta wrote Thursday that he will miss his friend, “but I know I will see you again.”
“My love and heart are with Riley, Priscilla, Harper & Finley,” he wrote on Instagram.
Actress Leah Remini said she was “heartbroken by the loss of Lisa Marie Presley,” adding, “Lisa’s life was not like some It’s as easy as some people think.”
“May she rest in peace now resting with her son and father,” she wrote Twitter.
Watch this video if you don’t know how to perform CPR
“Lisa Marie’s final resting place will be in Graceland, next to her beloved son Ben,” a family representative said in a statement to CNN on Friday.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the year Finley Aaron Love Lockwood and Harper Vivienne Ann Lockwood were born. That was 2008. The story has been updated to reflect this change.