FRIENDS TELL OF
THRUSTING his hips just like his grandad used to, it looks as though Ben Keough has the moves of Elvis Presley and the world at his feet.
Ben was just 18 in these unseen pictures – taken on holiday with pals he had met in England.
But the carefree lad larking about at golf grew into a troubled man.
And last week, aged just 27, he took his own life.
Standing alongside Ben is Kim Scales, a 54-year-old pub landlady who became friends with his mum Lisa Marie Presley and her children when they lived in rural East Sussex.
Kim recalls a young Ben as “a lovely lad, a sweet boy with a wicked sense of humour”.
But she says he was a shy teenager who struggled to cope with the dual pressures of looking like Elvis and being his only grandson.
Today, mourning the loss of her friend, Kim reveals how Ben had confided in her that being related to The King was “a curse”.
She says: “I know Ben struggled. It was tough being the grandson of someone more famous than God.
“You can’t get a normal job when you’re related to Elvis, you would have to get a different identity.
PROUD
“You can’t live a normal life, walk down the street without someone bothering you. They had to live with that every day and it was hard.
“Ben once told me, ‘People think it’s wonderful being me but it’s also a curse because you can’t be who you want to be. You can’t be normal because you haven’t been born into a normal family.’
“I know Ben was incredibly proud of his grandfather but he also found it heartbreaking being related to him because he never met him.
“I know that when he got a record contract he said his music would never be like his grandfather’s.
“He looked so much like him as well. And that can’t have been easy.”
Ben’s body was found by his girlfriend of two years, Diana Pinto, at the family home in the suburb of Calabasas last Sunday night.
An autopsy found he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
US reports said he was found slumped on the toilet – in a chilling echo of how his grandfather died after suffering a cardiac arrest in his bathroom in August 1977.
Elvis, just 42, had endured years of prescription drug abuse. He left $100million to Lisa Marie, 52, his only daughter with ex-wife Priscilla Presley, 75.
Ben and his sister Riley, 31, a model and actress, were next in line to inherit but Lisa Marie claimed to have financial problems after moving back to the States in 2016.
The Presleys had lived in Sussex for six years and embraced the lifestyle away from the chaos of Hollywood. They became regulars at The King’s Arms, the pub Kim and husband Justin ran in Rotherfield.
Kim last had contact with
Ben three months ago. She reveals: “I hadn’t spoken to him for ages so I Instagram messaged him. He wrote back, ‘I miss you guys. We are doing well but Los Angeles is f***ing crazy and lockdown too. My mum says hello and misses you too.’
“That was April 6 and he sounded upbeat, not like someone about to do what he did. I’m devastated and so shocked at the way he did it. I can’t get it out of my head.” Kim remembers Ben – whose dad is Lisa Marie’s first husband and fellow Scientologist Danny Keough – being happy and sociable when they first became pals in 2010.
The Presleys had bought a 15th century mansion for £9million and had the anonymity they craved.
Lisa Marie liked to drink Guinness and Jaeger bombs at the King’s Arms. They popped in for fish and chips most Fridays.
Ben celebrated his 18th birthday there and was served his first legal drink – a vodka and soda, or “skinny bitch” as he called them. Lisa Marie also