Priscilla Presley Pays Tribute to Her Late Daughter Lisa Marie Two Years After Her Untimely Death

Priscilla Presley is paying tribute to her late daughter Lisa Marie Presley, two years after her passing.

The 79-year-old wife of Elvis Presley shared a throwback snap of her only child with the King of Rock, who passed away at just 54 on January 12, 2023.

A Mother’s Heartbreak

Priscilla shared a throwback snap of her daughter on Instagram, along with a heartfelt message about her passing.

The post comes just months after Priscilla opened up about the one film role that Elvis regretted passing on after his manager Colonel Tom Parker talked him out of it.

“I miss you more than words can say. I wish I could hold you, talk to you, see your smile just one more time,” Priscilla began.

“I wish you could see how much you are still loved, how deeply you are missed by all of us who carry you in our hearts.” -Mom,” she concluded.

The Tragic Day

Lisa Marie suffered a cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, California on January 12, 2023 at approximately 10:30 AM.

She was transported to the West Hills Hospital, where her heart was restarted en route via CPR.

However, she passed away later that day at the hospital, just days after her final public appearance at the Golden Globes with her mother Priscilla.

Cause of Death

Her autopsy revealed Lisa Marie died from a small bowel obstruction caused by a recent bariatric surgery she underwent to manage obesity conditions.

While there were opioids found in her system at the time of death, the coroner revealed those did not contribute to her death.

She was interred at the Graceland Meditation Garden next to her father Elvis and her son Benjamin, who died by suicide in 2020.

Riley Keough Opens Up

Back in October, Lisa Marie’s daughter, actress Riley Keough, opened up in an Oprah Winfrey special about her mother’s final years.

She revealed that when her son Ben died by suicide in 2020, Lisa Marie kept her son’s body for two months, unsure of where to lay him to rest, and because she thought she could process her grief more with his body nearby.

“On paper, I could see how this sounds completely insane and absurd, but my mom was just very much herself… You know, she wasn’t a crazy lady,” Riley said.

Understanding Grief

She compared her mother’s extended grieving process to non-Western societies, adding, “everybody in the house was in the grieving process.”

Riley added, “She pulled some wild things off, but I think that the plan was to bury him here (at Graceland) with her dad.”

“And we weren’t gonna come here for about three weeks. … She knew that the woman was gonna keep my brother at the funeral home, and I think she just didn’t like the idea that he was far away, and she didn’t know what was being done,” she added.

“And I think that she just wanted control over the situation, given our family and all of that, and also just being a mother… Basically, she found a very compassionate funeral home owner who was a mother, and she said, ‘Well, look, if you do all these things, you can keep him in a room. You just have to have somebody tend (to the body),'” she said, adding in her book that Benjamin’s corpse was kept at 55 degrees.

A Family Marked by Tragedy

The Presley family has endured extraordinary loss. Lisa Marie experienced the death of her father Elvis when she was just 9 years old, then lost her son Benjamin to suicide in 2020, and passed away herself just three years later.

Priscilla has now outlived both her husband and her only child with him, a reality that few parents can imagine. Her tribute two years after Lisa Marie’s death reflects the ongoing nature of grief it doesn’t end after anniversaries or milestones, but continues day after day.

Lisa Marie’s Struggles

Lisa Marie had been open about her struggles with addiction and mental health throughout her life. The loss of her son Benjamin devastated her, and Riley’s revelations about her mother’s unusual grieving process demonstrate how profoundly that loss affected her.

The fact that Lisa Marie’s final public appearance was at the Golden Globes with her mother Priscilla, just days before her death, makes Priscilla’s loss even more poignant. They had shared that moment together, and then Lisa Marie was gone.

Continuing Legacy

Lisa Marie is remembered not just as Elvis Presley’s daughter, but as a singer-songwriter in her own right who released three albums and was married to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage, among others. She was also the mother of four children: Riley Keough, Benjamin Keough (deceased), and twins Harper and Finley Lockwood.

Riley has taken on the role of preserving her mother’s legacy, including completing and promoting Lisa Marie’s memoir, which contained revelations about her relationship with Michael Jackson and other aspects of her life.

Graceland: A Family Resting Place

Lisa Marie now rests at Graceland alongside her father Elvis and her son Benjamin three generations of Presleys united in death. The Meditation Garden at Graceland has become a pilgrimage site for fans who mourn not just Elvis but the entire family’s tragic story.

For Priscilla, visiting Graceland means confronting the losses of both her former husband and her daughter, as well as her grandson Benjamin. The weight of that grief is evident in her tribute’s simple but profound words: “I wish I could hold you, talk to you, see your smile just one more time.”

A Mother’s Eternal Love

Priscilla’s message emphasizes that Lisa Marie is “still loved” and “deeply missed” by those who “carry her in our hearts.” This language suggests an understanding that while Lisa Marie is gone physically, her presence continues through memory and love.

As Priscilla approaches 80 years old, she carries the burden of having buried her daughter a reversal of the natural order that no parent should experience. Her annual tributes serve as public acknowledgments of a private, ongoing grief that will never fully heal.

Two years may have passed since Lisa Marie’s death, but for Priscilla, the pain remains as fresh as if it were yesterday. Her tribute stands as a reminder that a mother’s love transcends death and that some losses can never truly be overcome only endured, one day at a time.