Singer Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of rock and roll legend Elvis Presley, died Thursday aged 54, her family said in a statement sent to AFP.
The king’s only daughter is no more. Singer Lisa Marie Presley, who was urgently hospitalized on Thursday, died, her family said. She was 54 years old. Her mother “Priscilla Presley and the Presley family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Lisa Marie,” a representative said in a statement, asking that the family’s privacy be respected.
Elvis’ daughter was rushed to hospital Thursday morning where she was placed in an induced coma and on life support after suffering cardiac arrest, reports gossip site TMZ, which relied on anonymous sources. According to the website, Lisa Marie Presley was “unconscious” when her housekeeper discovered her at her home in Calabasas, an affluent Los Angeles suburb, that morning.
Her ex-husband Danny Keough, who also lives at the property, performed CPR until paramedics arrived and took her to the hospital. “She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I know,” her mother, Priscilla Presley, said in a separate statement to People, thanking fans for their “love and prayers.”
The announcement of Lisa Marie Presley’s death immediately caused a wave of sad reactions from fans and personalities who were friends with the singer. “Lisa, my little darling, I’m so sorry. I will miss you but I know I will see you again,” John Travolta posted on Instagram. Bette Midler, Leah Rimini, or even Leana Rimes, who “hope she rests peacefully in her father’s arms,” also expressed their sorrow.
Proud of the biopic about her father
The singer was last seen in public on Tuesday while she and her mother attended the 2023 Golden Globes, where actor Austin Butler received an award for his role in the biopic Elvis, dedicated to his father.
Austin Butler, whose larger-than-life incarnation of the rock ‘n’ roll legend was widely acclaimed, spoke to the two women onstage during his speech. “Thank you for opening your hearts, your memories, your home to me. Lisa Marie and Priscilla, I love you guys forever,” he said.
Lisa Marie Presley, who said she was “overwhelmed” and “overwhelmed with gratitude,” had paid tribute to the film. “I’m so proud and I know my dad would have been proud.” She was very close to her father, who named his private jet Le Lisa Marie in her honor, and was only 9 years old when he died. If she followed in her footsteps and released three albums during her career, she never matched the immense success of her father, one of the most famous artists of all time.
A painful life between grief and addiction
Elvis’ only child, Lisa Marie Presley, previously controlled Elvis Presley Enterprises but sold most of his shares to a private equity firm in 2005.
However, she had retained control of Graceland, her father’s property in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was found unconscious in August 1977 before being hospitalized and his death attributed to a heart attack.
Elvis’ toxicological reports then revealed elevated drug levels in the rock ‘n’ roll legend’s body.
Lisa Marie Presley also had to battle opiate and painkiller addictions, as she revealed in a 2019 foreword to a book about the overdose outbreak that has plagued the United States for 20 years. “I’m not perfect. My dad wasn’t perfect, nobody’s perfect,” she wrote.
Notably, she gave birth to actress Riley Keough, who starred in Mad Max: Fury Road, and mourned the loss of a son, Benjamin Keough, who took his own life in July 2020, according to American media sources.