Young Lisa Marie 'always worried' about dad Elvis Presley dying
A memoir of Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of music legend Elvis Presley, has been posthumously released titled From Here to the Great Unknown. In the book, she candidly discusses her constant fear of losing her father at a young age. "I was always worried about my dad dying," she confessed in an excerpt shared by PEOPLE magazine. The memoir was completed by her daughter-actor Riley Keough after Lisa's death at 54 in 2023.
Lisa Marie's memoir recounts Elvis's struggles and performances
Lisa Marie, who was only nine when Elvis died from drug complications in 1977, described instances where she found him "passed out" or "out of it." Despite these troubling experiences, she cherished attending his shows as a child. She recounted being led onstage by her father before being seated in the audience, usually with Elvis's father Vernon. "The electricity of those shows. There's nothing I've felt that's been even close to that feeling, ever," she wrote.
Lisa Marie's life after Elvis: Motherhood, addiction, and resilience
The memoir also delves into Lisa Marie's personal struggles following Elvis's death. As a teenager, she turned to drugs but found stability after marrying her first husband Danny Keough and becoming a mother at 21. "I fell in love with being a mom. I realized I had been called to care for something else," she wrote. Despite their divorce in 1994, Danny remained a steadfast support for her and their children.
Lisa Marie's battle with prescription painkiller addiction
Lisa Marie's life took another turn after the birth of her twins Finley and Harper in 2008 with her then-husband Michael Lockwood. She developed an addiction to prescription painkillers, describing it as "an absolute matter of addiction, withdrawal in the big leagues." Her daughter Riley provided insights into Lisa Marie's complex personality throughout the memoir, portraying her as a multifaceted individual shaped by early trauma and personal struggles.
Riley's mission to humanize Lisa Marie through memoir
Riley expressed her desire to present her mother as a "three-dimensional human being" through the memoir. She aimed to move beyond the public fascination with Lisa Marie as Elvis's daughter and reveal her true essence. "What she wanted to do in her memoir, and what I hope I've done in finishing it for her, is to go beneath the magazine headline idea of her and reveal the core of who she was," Riley stated.
