The Tragic Truth About How Lisa Marie Presley Handled The Death Of Son Ben Keough

Lisa Marie Presley found herself in a harrowing situation that every mother dreads when her 27-year-old son, Ben Keough, died by suicide in July 2020. Presley, who died in 2023, wrote an essay about Keough for People for Grief Awareness Day in August 2022. "I've dealt with death, grief and loss since the age of 9 years old," she wrote. "I've had more than anyone's fair share of it in my lifetime and somehow, I've made it this far. But this one, the death of my beautiful, beautiful son? The sweetest and most incredible being that I have ever had the privilege of knowing, who made me feel so honored every single day to be his mother? No. Just no ... no no no no."

Additionally, Presley's poignant essay for the publication doubled as an actionable guide for others combating their own grief. "This is where finding others who have experienced a similar loss can be the only way to go. Support groups that have your specific kind of loss in common," she wrote. "I go to them, and I hold them for other bereaved parents at my home." Presley also stressed that while "NOTHING takes away the pain," seeking out support groups can help grievers "feel a little bit less alone."

Presley also took a heartbreaking measure immediately after Keough's death, as revealed in her posthumous memoir, "Here to the Great Unknown."

Lisa Marie Presley didn't immediately lay her son Ben Keough's body to rest after he died. She used dry ice to preserve him at home for two months. "There is no law in the state of California that you have to bury someone immediately," she explained of her decision in her memoir before recalling the similar measures taken after the death of her father, Elvis Presley. "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," she continued. Lisa used the time to continue her relationship with Ben, delay their inevitable farewell, and come to terms with the fact that she would eventually have to bury him.

Although Lisa's decision may have been therapeutic, her daughter, Riley Keough — who co-wrote much of the memoir after Lisa's death — wrote extensively about the signs that Ben wasn't happy with the arrangement. "We all got this vibe from my brother that he didn't want his body in this house anymore," she wrote. "'Guys,' he seemed to be saying, 'This is getting weird.'" Riley also revealed that Lisa eventually arrived to a similar thought process after getting her own signals from Ben that it was time to let him go.

Elsewhere in the book, Riley revealed that Ben's funeral was tough for her as well. "The service was as beautiful as it could have been ...  But as beautiful as it all was, I found myself needing to close my eyes simply to be able to bear it," she wrote, according to Entertainment Weekly. "When I'd open them, I could barely see through tears."

Before burying Ben Keough, Lisa Marie Presley persuaded Riley Keough into get tattoos matching Ben's existing ink of their names. She took an unorthodox approach to honoring the tattoos' likeness by allowing their chosen tattoo artist to inspect Ben's body — a decision Riley didn't agree with. "I looked at my mom, and with my eyes only, I communicated, 'Are you out of your f**king mind? You've never met this guy,'" Riley shared. "Do not bring him into that room with my dead brother." However, Presley "plowed ahead," leading to an uncomfortable moment for the artist. "I stood there aghast, watching him try to engage in the conversation and pretend this was fine."

Despite the heavy, tragic nature of these surprising revelations, Riley revealed during an appearance on "CBS This Morning" that her mother's memoir also covered a range of emotions outside of pain and loss. "I think that it's interesting, because I think that reading the book, it does feel like a tragedy, but I think that it's really important for me to remember that there was so much joy and love and just wonderful times in our lives, and I think that she had experienced a lot of loss very early on in her life, and I think a lot of her life was dictated by that and by grief," she said alongside Oprah Winfrey, who will read and dissect "Here to the Great Unknown" with her famous book club.