INSIDE HER REHAB HELL
Lisa Marie Presley struggles with putting her life back together as her divorce and custody battle rages on
The mild Southern California weather was perfect for a day at the beach. Toting a rainbow-colored kickball, a Frisbee and some bottled water, Michael Lockwood looked happy and calm as he helped load up the car on Feb. 22 after an outing in Malibu with his 8-year-old twins, Harper and Finley — all supervised by a social worker. Meanwhile, Michael’s estranged wife, Lisa Marie Presley, was in the same vicinity, yet a world away: “She’s spent time in a rehab facility in Malibu,” a family insider exclusively tells In Touch. “And she was there for a long, long time.”
Lisa Marie is struggling to face her demons. She checked into the treatment facility, says the family insider, “on the recommendation of her attorneys and her mother” amid a contentious divorce and custody battle that’s so far led both Lisa Marie, 49, and fourth husband Michael, 55, to lose custody of the twins. The girls have been living with grandmother Priscilla Presley for approximately nine months. (Lisa has accused her ex of storing “hundreds of inappropriate photos” of children as well as “disturbing video footage” on his computer, leading both the Department of Children and Family Services and law enforcement authorities to look into the matter.) “Lisa has been in really bad shape,” adds the family insider. “She’s finally coming out of the fog and has realized that her entire world has come crumbling down around her. With the help of the counseling she’s getting, she’s become conscious of the fact that she has no one to blame except for herself.” Lisa Marie is currently receiving outpatient treatment, a source tells In Touch.
Facing the truth has been difficult for Lisa Marie. “She loved to relax with a drink and some pills, but it started to get ugly. She would turn into another person, a Dr.-jekylland-mrs.-hyde situation,” explains the family insider. “She knows she has a problem with alcohol, but admitting you’re an alcoholic and an addict is very hard, even though she’s hit rock bottom. She could lose everything that matters to her.” Lisa Marie admitted in court papers that she’s now living with her 27-year-old daughter, Riley Keough.
Treatment was a miserable experience. “Lisa knows rehab is supposed to help, but she hated it — she always wanted out and threatened to walk,” says the family insider. “Lisa simply hates sobriety. The counselors told her that that’s normal, that she’ll eventually embrace it once she sees her life change. It’s very hard for her because she doesn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel” even though she’s out of rehab now.
She knows she needs to get and stay sober if she wants her kids back. But winning custody from Michael could be an uphill battle: The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has ended its involvement in the case of the alleged inappropriate photos without filing charges against Michael, who has vehemently denied Lisa Marie’s allegations. DCFS — which took the twins away from both parents in the first place — is still heavily involved, however. “Michael is now going to ask for unsupervised visits with the kids via DCFS court proceedings,” a source close to the investigation tells In Touch.
Lisa Marie doesn’t t want to lose the twins permanently. “She’s terrified Michael will get the kids. That’s her worst nightmare — losing Harper and Finley,” says the family y insider. “But the longer she stays in treatment, the better her chances are in court and in front of a judge.” ◼