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In an unprecedented revelation from her posthumous memoir "From Here to the Great Unknown," completed by her daughter Riley Keough, Lisa Marie Presley's profound struggle with loss takes center stage. Following the tragic suicide of her 27-year-old son Benjamin Keough in 2020, Presley made the extraordinary decision to keep his body at home for two months, challenging conventional mourning practices.
According to California state regulations, there are no mandated timelines for burial. Leveraging this legal flexibility, Presley arranged with an empathetic funeral home director to maintain her son's body on dry ice in a separate casitas bedroom at her Los Angeles residence. The room was meticulously kept at 55 degrees Fahrenheit to preserve the body.
This unconventional approach echoed Presley's childhood experience with her father Elvis's death in 1977. As Riley Keough explained, "It was really important for my mom to have ample time to say goodbye to him, the same way she'd done with her dad." This parallel between father and son illuminates the cyclical nature of Presley's grief journey.
The situation took an almost surreal turn when Presley and Riley decided to get memorial tattoos. In a moment Riley describes as "top five" in her "extremely absurd life," they invited a tattoo artist to reference Benjamin's existing tattoos directly from his body. This incident ultimately sparked a shift in their perspective, with Riley noting they sensed Benjamin's spiritual presence suggesting, "This is getting weird."
Family sources close to the Presleys revealed that Lisa Marie's decision was deeply personal, rooted in her desire to "parent him a bit longer," despite acknowledging that it might seem unsettling to others. The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter ultimately chose to lay Benjamin to rest at Graceland, alongside his grandfather Elvis.
This intimate glimpse into the Presley family's grieving process emerged following Lisa Marie's own untimely death in January 2023 at age 54, due to complications from previous bariatric surgery. The memoir, narrated by Julia Roberts for the audiobook version, features previously unheard interviews and personal reflections, offering an unprecedented look into the complex dynamics of celebrity grief and family bonds.
