By Isabelle Wilson-
Lisa Marie Presley, the only and beloved child of rock and roll legend Elvis, has died, her mother has said in a statement.
The 54-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, California, on Thursday morning.
The sad news was announced by her mother, Priscilla Presley, said: “It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us.
“She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known.”
Elvis, known to be the greatest rock and roll artist in history, died on 16 August 1977, aged just 42.
His daughter was nine years old at the time of his death, five years after Elvis and Priscilla Presley were divorced in 1972.
The sad news of her death comes after an earlier statement in which the 77-year-old asked people to “keep her and our family in your prayers”.
She said her daughter had been “rushed to hospital”.
Paramedics were called just before 10.40am to a report of a woman in full cardiac arrest, according to Craig Little, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles (LA) County’s fire department.
Presley’s death comes just two days after she attended the Golden Globes in Beverly Hills, where she celebrated Austin Butler winning best actor in a drama film for playing her father in Elvis, which also starred Hanks as his manager.
She gave interviews on the red carpet, where she told Entertainment Tonight she had been left stunned by Butler’s “mind-blowing” performance.
And just last weekend, Presley was at her father’s old Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, to mark the anniversary of his birth on 8 January 1935.
Presley’s family, including Priscilla and daughter Riley Keough, were pictured outside a hospital in the city before her death was announced.
John Travolta said his “heart goes out” to Presley’s family.
“Lisa baby girl, I’m so sorry,” he wrote.
“I’ll miss you but I know I’ll see you again. My love and heart goes out to Riley, Priscilla, Harper and Finley.”
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, who spent time with Presley during the making of the 2022 biopic Elvis, said their hearts “are broken” following news of her death.
In a lengthy Instagram post, Wilson said: “Tom and I had spent some time with the family during the Elvis movie promotional tour. Lisa Marie was so honest and direct, vulnerable, in a state of anticipation about the movie.
“She spoke so eloquently about her father, what the movie meant to her, that it was a celebration of her dad. She had her gorgeous daughters Finley and Harper with her who made us all laugh.”
Fellow singer Diane Warren expressed her sorrow at the “horrible news”.
“Oh no. This is such horrible news,” she wrote.
“The entire world is sending love and prayers to Priscilla and Lisa Marie’s children right now.
“May it give you (strength).”
Nancy Sinatra, whose father Frank performed with Elvis multiple times, said: “Every now and then I find myself wishing very hard that there is a hereafter, and tonight is one of those times.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee on Feb. 1, 1968, exactly nine months after Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding, Lisa Marie was briefly raised in the area before moving to Los Angeles at age 4 with her mother following her parents’ 1973 divorce.
“
Elvis Presley with Priscilla and Lisa Marie in 1968. Image: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive
She once said: ”one thing that correlates with Michael and with my father on this subject is that they had the luxury of creating whatever reality around them they wanted to create,” she told Oprah Winfrey during a 2016 interview, according to HuffPost. “They could have the kinds of people who were going to go with their program or not go with their program. If they weren’t, then they could be disposed of.”
In 2000, Lisa Marie got engaged to Hawaiian-born musician John Oszajca, though the relationship ended when she met actor Nicolas Cage at a birthday party for Johnny Ramone in 2000, when he was estranged from Patricia Arquette.
Two years later, Lisa Marie and Cage wed during a secret ceremony in Hawaii on the 25th anniversary of Elvis’ death. However, less than four months after their wedding, the pair announced they were splitting.
“I’m sad about this, but we shouldn’t have been married in the first place,” Lisa Marie said in a statement issued by her publicist, Paul Bloch.
Music Career
Marie Presley followed in her father’s footsteps by embarking on a music career, starting in 2003 with her debut album: To Whom It May Concern.
It charted in the top 10 on the US Billboard album chart, as did follow-up record Now What in 2005, with her third album, Storm And Grace, coming seven years later
Her solo career had begun eight years after she appeared in her then-husband Michael Jackson’s music video for the 1995 song You Are Not Alone.
She married four times, her second marriage to Michael Jackson ending in divorce in 1996, an emotional blow to her after her first marriage to musician Danny Keough from 1988 to 1994 ended
They had two children together – daughter Riley Keough, who became an actress and model, and son Benjamin – and remained close friends.
She got married to Jackson within three weeks of divorcing Keough.
Her third marriage was to actor Nicolas Cage, which lasted from 2002 until a divorce in 2004.
Presley married again in 2006, to her guitarist and producer Michael Lockwood. They had twin daughters together, named Finley Aaron Love Lockwood and Harper Vivienne Ann Lockwood.
She filed for divorce 10 years later, and it was finalised in 2021.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(764x369:766x371):format(webp)/Lisa-Marie-Presley-Life-02-011223-340eafd296a6484fb50b04581905a498.jpg)
Lisa Marie and Elvis Presley. Image: FRANK CARROLL/SYGMA VIA GETTY
Her fourth marriage came in 2006 to Michael Lockwood, with whom Lisa Marie welcomed twin daughters, Harper and Finley, two years later. Lisa Marie then filed for divorce in June 2016. [The divorce was finalized in 2021.] Ever since their separation, the two have been embroiled in an ongoing custody battle over their children.
Speaking to Healthy Living in 2014, Lisa Marie described herself as “ferociously protective” of her kids. “I just smother them in love,” she shared. “They are my priority. That’s what I do. That’s what I care most about. I keep them close to me and make sure they are happy and healthy.”
She was very open and vocal about her grief, especially after losing her son Benjamin in 2020, who died by suicide on July 12, which would’ve been his 28th birthday. “My beautiful beautiful angel, I worshipped the ground you walked on, on this earth and now in Heaven,” she wrote on Instagram shortly after his death. “My heart and soul went with you. The depth of the pain is suffocating and bottomless without you every moment of every day.”