Tragic Details About Lisa Marie Presley's Twin Daughters Harper & Finley

This article includes mentions of addiction and suicide.

Lisa Marie Presley lived a tragic life, and a lot of it trickled down to her family — and her twin daughters were no exception. In their short lives, Harper and Finley have faced significant hardship. For starters, they lost their mother when they were 14, just two years after losing their brother, Benjamin Keough. Besides losing the most important influence in their lives, they also lost their home. After Lisa Marie's death in January 2023, Harper and Finley were too distraught to return to their L.A. house.

Instead, they spent time with Priscilla Presley until their father, Michael Lockwood, gained full custody. It was a big transition for them, as they hadn't lived with him since Lisa Marie and Lockwood's messy divorce when they were just 7. The divorce in itself proved traumatic for the girls, who were subjected to a nasty custody battle. At the time, Lisa Marie accused her ex of having inappropriate content involving minors on his computer. But he was never charged. Nonetheless, the fight over custody plodded on.

That was a tumultuous time in Harper and Finley's lives. Lisa Marie even claimed the girls had to enter foster care, though Priscilla denied it had ever reached that point. It's unclear what exactly happened, but the twins ended up living with their grandmother for quite some time while their parents battled it out in court. Harper and Finley may only be teenagers, but they have overcome enough tragedy to last a lifetime. 

After their mother went into cardiac arrest in the bedroom of her Calabasas home, Finley and Harper Lockwood found it too distressing to consider setting foot at their residence again. Then age 14, the twins were at school when Lisa Marie Presley died. Instead of returning home, they chose to go to their grandmother's L.A. home, where Riley Keough also stayed for a while as the family tried to come to terms with their unexpected loss. Michael Lockwood reportedly dropped in frequently to check in on the girls.

Given that Harper and Finley had lived with Priscilla Presley during their parents' contentious divorce, they understandably felt at home in her care. However, they moved in with their father not long after, as Lockwood secured full custody of them. Just three weeks after the traumatic loss, Finley and Harper were seen running errands with their father in Santa Monica. Their facial expressions didn't hide their pain.

Though wearing a full face of makeup, their downcast eyes captured the difficult times they had been going through. Living with Lockwood was a big change. Priscilla and Keough wanted to give them space to acclimate before becoming heavily involved again. "They have always been close, but when Lisa Marie died the twins' dad Michael took the twins full time because it was a big adjustment period for them," a source told Us Weekly in September 2023.

Harper and Finley were 7 when their parents divorced. Divorces tend to be hard on kids in general, but it gets even more challenging when parents fight over their children. And Lisa Marie Presley's custody battle over the twins was as brutal as they come. When she filed papers in June 2016, she asked for full custody. Then, eight months later, Presley accused Michael Lockwood of keeping "hundreds of inappropriate photos of children" on his computer, E! News reported.

Presley argued that finding the materials in the home they shared with their daughters took a toll on her mental health. "When I discovered the photos on [Lockwood's] computer, and viewed the videos, I was shocked and horrified and sick to my stomach," she wrote in the court documents challenging his request for spousal support. "I had no idea that [he] had taken those photos. I will refrain from describing the photographs in detail out of respect for the privacy of my family."

The Beverly Hills Police confiscated more than 80 devices belonging to Lockwood right after Presley filed for divorce but found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing in California. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation also looked into the allegations but similarly found that no crimes had been committed in the state in March 2017. Presley and Lockwood's divorce was finalized in 2021, but they continued to battle it out in court over custody and visitation rights for Harper and Finley. 

In the court documents containing her disturbing allegations against Michael Lockwood, Lisa Marie Presley also noted that Harper and Finley had been taken into the care of the Department of Children and Family Services. But Priscilla Presley denied her granddaughters had been taken into protective custody. "There is Lots of confusion, commotion and concern from all the talk circulating. Let me put this to rest... the girls have not been in foster care and never will be," she wrote in a February 2017 Facebook post.

Instead, Finley and Harper were living with her during Lisa Marie and Lockwood's legal battle. "The girls have been with me and will be until all this is sorted out," she concluded her message. In a March 2017 interview with ET, Priscilla revealed the twins had been at her home for several months, indicating she had watched over them since Lisa Marie filed for divorce. "It's still a very family-oriented environment for them," she said. "They've been with me for — it'll be over nine months. They're great. They're doing wonderful."

Priscilla assured that Lisa Marie and Lockwood continued to be involved in Finley and Harper's lives. "They see both their parents, and we'll see what happens," she added. The time the girls lived with Priscilla also had a big impact on their grandmother. "I've learned to really listen to what [the girls are] saying," she told People. "They have so much to contribute."

Just two and a half years before losing their mother, Finley and Harper had already been through an indescribable grief. In July 2020, Benjamin Keough died by suicide, ushering in a dark period for Lisa Marie Presley and her three remaining children. "She is completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated but trying to stay strong for her 11-year-old twins and her oldest daughter Riley," Lisa Marie's manager told Fox News in a statement.

The bond between the four siblings was apparent over the years. "We all are very, very close. The older ones absolutely adore the younger ones and they help me with them," Lisa Marie told Healthy Living in 2014 (via Billboard). Amid the unusual circumstances in which they grew up, the family was glad they could always count on one another. "We all kind of hold each other up; we are all each other's best friends," she said.

Riley often showed off their special relationship on their social media, making her tributes to Ben that much more painful. "Not an hour goes by where I don't think of you and miss you," she captioned a July 2022 Instagram post. Despite all their shared heartache, Riley remained grateful of her mother's love. "I am a product of your heart. My sisters are a product of your heart. My brother is a product of your heart," Riley wrote in a letter that her husband read at Lisa Marie's funeral, according to ET.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

On October 7, 2024, Finley and Harper turned 16. They celebrated the milestone birthday on the eve of the release of Lisa Marie Presley's memoir on October 8, 2024, which put the spotlight on many of their mother's — and family's — ups and downs. One of them was that the twins' birth led to Lisa Marie's addiction to prescription drugs. Her recovery from the C-section was hard, so her doctor prescribed her painkillers. But she didn't stop after her bottle ran out.

"It only took a short-term prescription of opioids in the hospital for me to feel the need to keep taking them," she wrote in a foreword for Harry Nelson's 2019 book "The United States of Opioids," as transcribed by People. And it spiraled from there. "It escalated to eighty pills a day," she wrote in her memoir. After years of addiction, Lisa Marie wasn't taking the pills just to get high anymore. "The severity of the withdrawal would have left me either in the hospital or dead. My blood pressure would shoot up so high," she wrote.

It must be difficult for Finley and Harper to know that their birth had such severe consequences. However, their family made sure to keep the day focused on them by celebrating on social media. "You are the most special girls in the whole wide world. I am so lucky to be your big sissy," Riley Keough wrote on Instagram.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).