Off The Record

Two Months After Her Son’s Death, Lisa Marie Presley Disclosed The Heartbreaking Reason She Kept His Remains At Home

Published on October 11, 2024

Lisa Marie Presley was writing a novel on her amazing life as the King of Rock and Roll’s only child until she passed away tragically in January 2023.

She discussed her profession, relationships, motherhood, and grieving experience in addition to the difficulties that come with being the daughter of an icon like Elvis.

One of the most heartbreaking revelations in her recently released memoir, which her daughter Riley Keough wrote and had published posthumously, is how she handled the loss of her cherished son Benjamin in July 2020.

Fans of the late singer claim that Presley’s memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown, has been a true page-turner since it was released yesterday, October 8.

The 54-year-old talked candidly about her marriage to Michael Jackson, the deaths of two of the most significant men in her life, and why she feels it was better for her to keep their bodies at home.

Four years ago, Benjamin, who was lovingly called “Ben Ben” by his loved ones, committed suicide and was discovered dead in Calabasas, California.

The death of her kid, who she had earlier claimed had an ‘uncanny’ resemblance to Elvis, clearly upset the entire family, but Presley in particular was left ‘beyond devastated’.

The mother-of-four talked about how she handled the situation, revealing that she kept Ben’s body on dry ice for two months in her “separate casitas bedroom” in her Los Angeles home.

The body of the 27-year-old was maintained at 55 degrees in the separate room.

“There is no law in the state of California that you have to bury someone immediately,” Presley said.

Her daughter Riley noted that it was “really important” for Presley to “have ample time to say goodbye, the same way she did with her dad,” while she commended a kind funeral home owner for helping her set up the arrangement.

When the Jailhouse Rock hitmaker died in 1977, the singer was just nine years old. According to her memoir, it was “incredibly helpful” for her to have his open casket in Graceland prior to his burial.

Presley wrote that she got to spend time and to ‘talk to’ her dad before saying her final goodbye, and wanted to replicate this when she was preparing to let Ben go too.

The distraught mother added that she was unsure whether to bury her son with Elvis in Graceland or in Hawaii, so she kept his remains close.

“That was part of why it took so long,” Presley explained in her memoir. “I got so used to him, caring for him and keeping him there. I think it would scare the living f**kng piss out of anybody else to have their son there like that. But not me.”

“I felt so fortunate that there was a way that I could still parent him, delay it a bit longer so that I could become okay with laying him to rest.”

According to the book, Presley and her daughter agreed to get matching tattoos in Ben’s honor before his funeral, and they invited the tattoo artist to view his existing designs so they could get their own.

Elvis Presley’s grandson had his mother’s name on his hand and his sister’s on his collarbone.

According to Riley’s From Here to the Great Unknown, “I’ve had an extremely absurd life, but this moment is in the top five.”

She and her family ‘had this sensation from Ben’ that he no longer wanted his body hanging around the family home, the 35-year-old movie star revealed shortly after their tattoos were finished.

Riley wrote: “‘Guys,’ he seemed to be saying, ‘This is getting weird’. 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!'”