TRAGIC DEATH OF ELVIS’ GRANDSON
Benjamin Keough’s suicide at 27
Elvis Presley’s grandson Benjamin Keough was found dead in his Calabasas home last week. The son of Lisa Marie Presley was 27 years old. A coroner later ruled that he had died by suicide
Roger Widynowski, his mother’s manager, released a statement saying that Lisa Marie was “heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated”. He went on to say, “She adored that boy. He was the love of her life,” adding that she was “trying to stay strong” for her three daughters.
Lisa Marie, 52, has one daughter – Riley, 31 – by Danny Keough, who was also Benjamin’s father. She also has twin daughters, 11-year-olds Harper Vivienne Ann and Finley Aaron Love, with her fourth husband, musician and producer Michael Lockwood. She was also married to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage. Benjamin had started to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps as a teenager, signing a $5m record deal, although it seems he did not go on to release music. Both friends of Lisa Marie and Ben offered their condolences after his tragic death. Nancy Sinatra tweeted, “I have known you since before your mama gave birth to you, never dreaming you would have pain like this in your life. I’m so very sorry.” Roy Orbison Jr, whose father performed with Elvis, said, “Everybody please pray for Elvis Presley’s family. They have had another terrible tragedy today.”
Lisa Marie – the only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley – was just nine years old when her father died of heart failure. In 2018, she recalled the night he died, remembering he came in to kiss her goodnight just hours earlier. ■