Priscilla Presley Opens Up About Taking Lisa Marie Off Life Support In New Memoir
Priscilla Presley opens up about taking Lisa Marie off Life Support (Photo Credit: Marilla Sicilia/Archivio Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images, Michael Loccisano/WireImage)
Lisa Marie Presley Died On January 12, 2023
Just days after attending the Golden Globes, where Austin Butler won Best Actor for portraying her father in the film Elvis, Lisa Marie Presley went into cardiac arrest in her Calabasas, California home.
Her ex-husband, Danny Keough, found her unresponsive and called 9-1-1, who performed CPR until she had a pulse and then transported her to the nearby West Hills Hospital. Keough called Lisa Marie’s mother, Priscilla Presley, and had her meet him at the hospital.
Sadly, Lisa Marie passed away later that day.
The autopsy showed that she died of a small bowel obstruction, which happened to be a complication from a prior bariatric surgery. While opioids were found in her system, they did not contribute to her death.
New Details Of Her Passing Emerge In Priscilla Presley’s New Book
Priscilla Presley is releasing a new memoir titled Softly As I Leave You: Life After Elvis on September 23rd. In her announcement of the book back in May, Priscilla said she wrote the book over the last year and it will cover the last five decades of her life, beginning after Elvis died in 1977.
Prior to the book’s release, Priscilla sat down with People Magazine to share some stories she will be sharing.
While her life has been quite fabulous, Priscilla has also had to endure many hardships, including grieving her grandson Benjamin Keough’s death in 2020, helping her son Navarrone through addiction, and of course, losing Lisa Marie.
“It hasn’t been easy at all. But you have to find strength,” she told the outlet.
Priscilla calls the day Lisa Marie died as “the second saddest day of my life, other than losing Elvis. It took a long time to come to terms with the fact that Lisa was gone.”
She detailed that day, saying:
“We were there all day long. Lisa really wasn’t breathing, so she was on the ventilator. For hours we were there waiting, hoping and praying until the doctor came in and said, ‘Priscilla, I’m so sorry, she’s gone.’ We just couldn’t believe it — didn’t want to believe it. It was hard on all of us, it still is.”
She shared an excerpt from her book, revealing that Lisa’s heart stopped again in the hospital and even they revived her, Priscilla asked the doctor what her quality of life would be like if they kept her on a ventilator, to which he responded, “No quality of life at all.”
Priscilla made the difficult decision to have the doctor take Lisa Marie “off the machine.”
“It was unbearable. I began to sob. I don’t remember falling. I know that [my cousin] Ivy caught me. After that, everything went dark. I can’t remember. I don’t want to remember,” she writes.
Danny was by her side when Lisa Marie passed away, and her half-brother Navarrone was in the waiting room. Riley was on a flight and has previously said that she felt her mother’s spirit pass, even before she was informed that her mom had died.
How Is Priscilla Doing Now?
Following Lisa Marie’s death, Priscilla and Riley were involved in a legal battle involing Lisa’s trust, but that issue has since been settled.
Now, Priscilla finds joy being grandma to Lisa Marie’s youngest children, Harper and Finley.
She also revealed that she is a great-grandmother twice over to Riley and her husband Ben Smith-Petersen’ three-year-old daughter, Tupelo, and their second child that the couple “quietly welcomed” earlier this year.
Riley revealed they welcomed Tupelo via surrogacy during the speech she wrote for her mother’s funeral. Ben read the speech at the Graceland funeral.
Priscilla’s book will be released on September 23rd and is now available for pre-order.
