Lisa Marie Presley kept the body of her beloved son Benjamin in her home for months after his suicide, according to a new memoir completed by her actress daughter.
Lisa, who died last year at the age of 54, appeared to be so heartbroken by her loss that she kept her son in a “separate casitas bedroom” for two months, as described in her memoir seen by page six.
“There is no law in the state of California that requires you to bury someone immediately,” she wrote. “I found a very empathetic funeral home owner… She said, ‘We’ll bring Ben Ben to you.'”
Lisa reveals in memoir, released Todaythat her son’s body was held at a 55-degree angle for body preservation, and that she “became accustomed” to caring for him in the room before he was laid to rest. Lisa would later be buried next to her son in Graceland.
Benjamin Keough died by suicide in August 2020 at the age of 27 – an event that would inspire Lisa to write candidly about grief until her own death three years later.
Lisa Marie Presley and Benjamin Presley Keough pictured together in 2015
Michael Lockwood (CL), Ben Keough (CR) and Lisa Marie Presley (R) attend the world premiere of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows in London, on November 11, 2010
FROM HERE TO THE GREAT UNKNOWN is published today by Pan MacMillan
Lisa reportedly says in the book that after Benjamin’s death, she had to “fight” herself to stay alive for her remaining children, making it difficult for her to say goodbye to her son right away.
She said she knew it was strange to keep the body in the house, writing, “I think it would scare the living damn god of anyone else if their son was there like that.” But not me.’
She said she also had a hard time deciding where to bury him: in Hawaii, or at the Graceland estate in Memphis, where her father, Elvis Presley, died and is buried.
Riley Keough, who survives Lisa with her twin siblings Harper and Finley Lockwood, now 16, co-authored her mother’s memoir to “turn her into a three-dimensional human being,” she said.
“I want to not only honor my mother, but also tell a human story in what I know is an extraordinary circumstance,” she explained Saturday while recording an audio version of the book.
‘I am aware that the recordings my mother left behind are a gift. Often all that remains of a loved one is a saved and resaved voicemail, a short video on a phone, some favorite photos. I take the privilege of these ties very seriously.”
Riley and her mother honored Benjamin by getting tattoos to match his.
While he had his sister’s name on his collarbone and his mother’s on his hand, Riley had her brother’s on her collar and Lisa had her son’s on her hand.
When the tattoo artist asked for photos of Benjamin to match the tattoos, Lisa said, “No, but I can show you,” according to Page Six.
“Lisa Marie Presley had just asked this poor man to look at the body of her deceased son, which happened to be right next to us…” Riley writes.
“I’ve had an extremely absurd life, but this moment is in the top five.”
Riley writes that soon after, everyone “got the vibe” that it was time for Benjamin to be buried.
A funeral was held in Malibu before Benjamin was buried in Graceland. Lisa would join her son after her death, buried in a shared plot on the right.
Lisa Marie died at the age of 54 from a small intestinal obstruction that developed after she underwent bariatric surgery several years earlier.
Shortly before her death, Presley asked Keough, whose father is Danny Keough, to help her write the memoir in 2022.
Riley will also narrate part of the audiobook alongside film star Julia Roberts.
Riley Keough, Priscilla Presley Lisa Marie and Benjamin Keough pictured in front of the celebration of what would have been Elvis’ 75th birthday near Graceland, January 8, 2010
Riley Keough shared a photo of the last time she saw her mother before her death in 2023
Elvis Presley with his wife Priscilla (R) and his daughter Lisa Marie Elvis Presley (L)
In the memoir, Lisa Marie opens up about her love for Elvis and how much she struggled after his death, her romantic relationships, motherhood, the devastating death of her son in 2020 and the birth of her granddaughter, Keough’s two-year-old daughter Tupelo.
“What she wanted to do in her memoir, and what I hope I’ve done to complete it for her, is go beneath the idea of the magazine headline about her and reveal the core of who she was,” Keough said when he spoke to PEOPLE. in September.
Keough is hitting the road for a fall book tour in honor of her mother’s posthumous memoir.
According to Random House, she will be joined by a special guest in six different cities from October 9 to 20, including: New York, Memphis, St. Louis, Nashville, London and Los Angeles.
The highly anticipated memoir, FROM HERE TO THE GREAT UNKNOWN, is published today, October 8, 2024, by Pan MacMillan.