The tragic life of Lisa Marie Presley: How Elvis’ only daughter suffered the early death of a parent, failed marriages and the grief of losing a son
As the only child of the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll”, Lisa Marie Presley’s life was one of music royalty.
With the prestigious Presley name and as the sole heir to Elvis’ Graceland estate, rock music’s first princess was born into fame and fortune.
Presley, who died aged 54 on Thursday after suffering a cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, California, would find renown of her own, launching a music career that would see her score two US top 10 albums.
But her life would be one beset by tragedy, including the death of her legendary musician father when she was just nine years old and the loss of her son.
She would also have four high-profile separations, including from the singer Michael Jackson, and a fateful 107-day marriage to the actor Nicholas Cage.
Tragedy at the age of nine
Born in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, at the tail-end of “Elvis-mania”, news of Lisa Marie’s birth was celebrated like that of traditional royalty.
Elvis poses with wife Priscilla and daughter Lisa Marie in 1968
But her family life would soon be torn apart by infidelity.
After claims of affairs on both sides, Priscilla’s affair with her karate teacher proved the final straw in the couple’s already tumultuous marriage.
The pair eventually separated later that year, in 1972.
Lisa Marie, then aged four, would spend her childhood between her mother’s Californian home and her father’s estate of Graceland in Memphis.
Her mother would later enter a relationship with actor Michael Edwards, who Lisa Marie would accuse in a 2003 interview of “coming into my room and being inappropriate while drunk” when she was a teenager.
Tragedy struck again when Lisa Marie was just nine years old, when her father died at the age of just 42 after suffering a heart attack.
During her school years, she began to experiment with drugs, leading her mother to send her to a series of private schools and at one point a boarding school.
Lisa Marie Presley poses for her first picture, safe in the lap of her mother, Priscilla, on February 5, 1968, alongside beaming father, Elvis Presley
Speaking about her school years in a 2003 interview with the LA Times, she said: “(I) was kind of a loner, a melancholy and strange child.
“I had a real self-destructive mode for a while.
“I never really fit into school. I didn’t really have any direction.”
Failed first marriage and ill-fated second with Michael Jackson
After dropping out of high school in her Junior year, Lisa Marie was sent to the Scientology Celebrity Center for drug rehabilitation, where she would meet her first husband, musician Danny Keough.
The pair married in 1988 and had two children; Riley, who is now an actress and model, and Benjamin.
Lisa Marie Presley and Danny Keough
Just three weeks after her divorce from Keough was finalised in 1994, Lisa Marie got married to the singer Michael Jackson, following his proposal over the phone.
The pair soon went to the Dominican Republic, where Lisa Marie filed a quick divorce to Keough, then wed Jackson in private.
She later publicly announced the wedding, by saying: “My married name is Mrs Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson. My marriage to Michael Jackson took place in a private ceremony outside the United States weeks ago.”
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But their marriage was rocked by the emerging allegations of child abuse against Jackson.
The singer reportedly became dependent on Lisa Marie for emotional support, while she became concerned about his use of sedative drugs.
Lisa Marie later said in an interview with Rolling Stone that she had hoped to “save” the troubled singer.
Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley
The marriage was dogged by theories the pair had an asexual relationship, leading to Lisa Marie appearing in a suggestive video for his 1995 hit You Are Not Alone.
But a year later, in 1996, the pair divorced.
A 107-day marriage to Nicholas Cage
The couple attempted to reconcile over the next four years. However, in 2000, Lisa Marie would enter a new relationship with singer John Oszajca.
But she dramatically broke off their engagement after meeting actor Nicholas Cage at a party.
The pair married in August 2002. But just 107 days later, their marriage ended in divorce.
Nicolas Cage and Lisa Marie Presley
Speaking to Larry King about the marriage in 2003, she said: “It looked attractive, like I could be equal. Similar situations, similar backgrounds.
“So we connected, we had a great connection.
“It was kind of one of those things where you marry someone hoping… to either stabilise [my life] or it’s going to, you know, accentuate all that was going on prior to what was problematic.
“So it kind of did the latter, that’s all.”
Bitter divorce battle
Four years later, Lisa Marie married again, this time to guitarist and music producer Michael Lockwood, with her former husband Keough serving as best man at the couple’s ceremony.
The pair had twins, Finley and Harper, in 2008.
Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Lockwood
But their 10-year marriage ended in an acrimonious divorce in 2016, during which Lockwood attempted to lay claim to some of Lisa Marie’s substantial estate, despite a prenuptial agreement.
After a bitter battle, Lisa Marie’s inheritance was protected and their divorce was finalised in 2021.
Following in her father’s footsteps
There were happier times for Lisa Marie, however.
She followed in her father’s footsteps by pursuing 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.
Lisa Marie Presley performs during her Storm and Grace tour
Fans had to wait seven years for her third album, Storm And Grace, which was released to positive reviews.
The name of the album is believed to have been inspired partly by her son Benjamin, whose middle name is Storm.
In 2018, Presley featured on a new record, titled Where No One Stands Alone, which was released to celebrate her father’s love of gospel music, and featured 14 original performances recorded by him.
The title track was a reimagined duet, in which Lisa Marie’s vocals featured alongside those of her father.
The death of her son
However, her life continued to be plagued by tragic twists.
Lisa Marie described being “shattered” by the news of Jackson’s death, at the age of 50, in 2009.
And in 2020 her son, Benjamin, took his own life at the age of 27.
Lisa Marie Presley (C), with her children Riley and Benjamin Keough (R)
Last year, she wrote an essay for People magazine about his death.
“I’ve dealt with death, grief and loss since the age of nine years old,” she said.
“I’ve had more than anyone’s fair share of it in my lifetime and somehow, I’ve made it this far.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. Alternatively, letters can be mailed to: Freepost SAMARITANS LETTERS.
Entertainment
Stalker who believed Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas was his aunt avoids jail
A man who stalked Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas for six years has avoided jail.
Kyle Shaw, 37, got a 20-month suspended sentence and a lifetime restraining order on contacting Ballas, her mother, niece, and former partner.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he thought Ballas was his aunt and “began a persistent campaign of contact”.
“He believed, and it’s evident from what he was told by his mother, that her late brother was his father,” said prosecutor Nicola Daley.
The court heard there was no evidence he was wrong, and “limited evidence” he was correct.
Ms Daley said Shaw’s messages had accused Ballas of being to blame for the death of her brother, who took his own life in 2003 aged 44.
He also set up social media accounts in his name.
Shaw had pleaded guilty to stalking the former dancer between August 2017 and November 2023 at a hearing in February.
Incidents included following Ballas’s 86-year-old mother, Audrey Rich, while she was shopping and telling her she was his grandmother.
The court heard in messages to Mrs Rich, Shaw had asked: “Where’s my dad?”
Ballas was so worried for her mother’s safety that she moved her from Merseyside to London.
Kyle Shaw outside court on the day of his sentencing. Pic: PA
In October 2020, Ballas called police after Shaw messaged her and said: “Do you want me to kill myself, Shirley?”
Posts on X included one alongside an image of her home address that warned: “You ruined my life, I’ll ruin yours and everyone’s around you.”
Another referenced a book signing and said: “I can’t wait to meet you for the first time Aunty Shirley. Hopefully I can get an autograph.”
The court was told Ballas’s niece Mary Assall, former partner Daniel Taylor and colleagues from Strictly Come Dancing and ITV’s Loose Women were also sent messages.
‘I know where you live’
On one occasion in late 2023, Shaw called Mr Taylor and told him he knew where the couple lived and described Ballas’s movements.
The court heard the 64-year-old TV star become wary of socialising and stopped using public transport.
Prosecutor Ms Daley said: “She described having sleepless nights worrying about herself and her family’s safety and being particularly distressed when suggestions were made to her that she and her mother were responsible for her brother taking his own life.”
Ballas has been head judge on Strictly Come Dancing since 2017. Pic: PA
Shaw cried and wiped away tears as he was sentenced on Tuesday.
The judge said the stalking stemmed from his mother telling him Ballas’s brother, David Rich, was his biological father.
“I’m satisfied that your motive for this offending was a desire to seek contact with people you genuinely believed were your family,” he said.
“Whether in fact there’s any truth in that belief is difficult, if not impossible, to determine.”
Shaw pictured at court in February. Pic: PA
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Defence lawyer John Weate said Shaw had been told the story by his mother “in his mid to late teens” and had suffered “complex mental health issues” since he was a child.
He added: “He now accepts that Miss Ballas and her family don’t wish to have any contact with him and, importantly, he volunteered the information that he has no intention of contacting them again.”
Shaw, of Whetstone Lane in Birkenhead, also admitted possessing cannabis and was ordered to undertake a rehab programme.
Gary Glitter has been made bankrupt after failing to pay more than £500,000 in damages to a woman he abused when she was 12 years old.
She sued the disgraced singer, whose real name is Paul Gadd, after he was found guilty of attacking her and two other schoolgirls between 1975 and 1980.
Glitter, 80, was jailed for 16 years in 2015 and released in 2023 but was recalled to prison less than six weeks later after breaching his parole conditions.
A judge awarded the woman £508,800, including £381,000 in lost earnings and £7,800 for future therapy and treatment, saying she was subjected to abuse “of the most serious kind”.
The court heard she had not worked for decades due to the trauma of being repeatedly raped and “humiliated” by the singer.
Glitter was jailed for 16 years in 2015. Pic: Met Police/PA
Glitter was made bankrupt last month at the County Court at Torquay and Newton Abbot, in Devon – the county where he is reportedly serving his sentence in Channings Wood prison, in Newton Abbot.
Richard Scorer, head of abuse law at Slater and Gordon, the law firm representing the woman, said: “We confirm that Gadd has been made bankrupt following our client’s application.
“As he has done throughout, Gadd has refused to cooperate with the process and continues to treat his victims with contempt.
“We hope and trust that the parole board will take his behaviour into account in any future parole applications, as it clearly demonstrates that he has never changed, shows no remorse and remains a serious risk to the public.”
Glitter was first jailed for four months in 1999 after he admitted possessing around 4,000 indecent images of children.
He was expelled from Cambodia in 2002, and in March 2006 was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam where he spent two-and-a-half years in prison.
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His sentence for the 2016 convictions expires in February 2031.
Glitter was automatically released from HMP The Verne, a low-security prison in Portland, Dorset, in February 2023 after serving half of his fixed-term determinate sentence.
But he was back behind bars weeks later after reportedly trying to access the dark web and images of children.
Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan will play Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in the upcoming Beatles films – with a Stranger Things star also portraying one of the Fab Four.
The two Irish actors will be joined by London-born performers Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.
The cast for the Sam Mendes project was revealed at the CinemaCon event in Las Vegas, with all four appearing on stage and taking a bow together in Beatles style.
(L-R) Mescal, Quinn, Keoghan and Dickinson appeared together at the announcement. Pic: Reuters
Mendes is making four interconnected films – one from the perspective of each of the band members – and they are all set to be released “in proximity” to each other in April 2028.
It marks the first time The Beatles and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.
Playing McCartney is another big role for 29-year-old Mescal, who recently starred in the Gladiator sequel and was nominated for an Oscar in 2023 for Aftersun.
Barry Keoghan – who also got an Oscar nod for The Banshees of Inisherin – will portray the other surviving Beatles member, Ringo Starr.
Pic: PA
Meanwhile, Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn, who appeared with long hair as Eddie Munson in the fourth series, takes up the role of George Harrison.
Harris Dickinson has the challenge of stepping into the shoes of perhaps the most famous Beatle, John Lennon.
The 28-year-old recently starred in erotic thriller Babygirl with Nicole Kidman and also appeared in satire Triangle of Sadness.
Mendes told the industry audience at CinemaCon there is “still plenty to explore” despite the Beatles’ rise having being well chronicled.
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The Oscar-winning British director is known for films including American Beauty, First World War movie 1917, and Bond outings Skyfall and Spectre.
Sony Pictures boss Tom Rothman said the close release of all four films in three years’ time will be “the first bingeable theatrical experience”.
“We are going to dominate the culture that month,” he added.
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