In Lisa Marie’s memoir From Here to the Great Unknown she opens up about how she struggled to say goodbye to her son Benjamin Keogh after his death
Lisa Marie Presley revealed in her new memoir that she kept the body of her son Benjamin Keough in her LA home for two months after his death because she was so heartbroken about his death.
Elvis Presley’s grandson Benjamin took his own life in July 2020, and his mom, who died aged 27 on January 12, 2023 after suffering a cardiac arrest, even let a tattoo artist into her home, so she and his sister Riley Keogh could get ink that matched his, it is also claimed in From Here to the Great Unknown.
In the book, which went on sale today, the actress revealed she had to force herself to “fight” to stay alive for her other kids — Riley, who completed her memoir after she died, and her twin daughters Harper and Finley Lockwood.
Lisa Marie wrote that part of the reason why she did not want to say goodbye to Benjamin right away was because she couldn’t decide whether to bury him in Hawaii or Graceland, the Memphis estate where Elvis is buried.
The actress said that she kept her son in a separate casitas bedroom at her home, adding: “I kept Ben Ben in there for two months. There is no law in the state of California that you have to bury someone immediately.
Lisa Marie said she “found a very empathetic funeral home owner”, who took her son to her home after telling her “We’ll bring Ben Ben to you”.
She said the room was kept at 55 degrees to preserve his body, and she “got so used to him, caring for him and keeping him there”.
Benjamin had his sister’s name inscribed on his collarbone, and his mother’s on his hand.
The tattoo artist came to her home to look at Benjamin’s body so he could match the font and placement of the tattoos before they replicated the inks on him mom and sister, Riley wrote.
She also told that when the tattoo artist asked if they had any photos of Benjamin’s inks so, she said: “No, but I can show you”.
Riley wrote: “Lisa Marie Presley had just asked this poor man to look at the body of her dead son, which happened to be right next to us in the casitas. I’ve had an extremely absurd life, but this moment is in the top five.”
Lisa Marie thought storing her dead son at her home was unusual but felt it was the right thing to do.
She said: “I think it would scare the living f–king piss out of anybody else to have their son there like that. But not me.”
Riley said in soon after the tatoos were complete she and the rest of her family “got the vibe” that Benjamin wanted to be laid to rest.
“Even my mom said that she could feel him talking to her, saying ‘This is insane, Mom, what are you doing? What the f–k!”, Riley wrote.
Benjamin’s funeral was held in in Malibu and New Age author Deepak Chopra led the ceremony.