Daughter Elvis is dead: Lisa Marie Presley dies at the age of 54

Lisa Marie Presley was nine years old when her famous father, rock and roll legend Elvis Presley, died in 1977 at the age of 42. The singer’s only child survived the “King” by age by only a dozen years. Her mother, Priscilla Presley, announced the shocking news on Thursday evening (local time) – singer Lisa Marie Presley died in California at the age of 54.

“It is with a heavy heart that I have to share the terrible news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” the American magazine “People” quoted from a statement by the 77-year-old actress. “She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known.”

A few hours earlier, Priscilla Presley shared on her social media that Lisa Marie had been taken to a hospital. She initially gave no further information about the medical emergency. According to US media reports, Lisa Marie Presley may have suffered cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, California. Paramedics performed CPR, the celebrity portal “TMZ.com” wrote.

A few days ago, mother and daughter were still in the spotlight. Together they attended the Golden Globe Gala in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening. There, actor Austin Butler won the Globe for Best Drama Actor for his lead role in the biopic “Elvis”. In interviews on the red carpet, the Elvis daughter gushed about how aptly Butler portrayed her father.

Her parents’ love story made headlines around the world: Priscilla’s stepfather was stationed in Germany, where the then-14-year-old’s fateful first meeting with the “Love Me Tender” star took place in 1959. Priscilla must first grow up and finish school before getting married in May 1967 in Las Vegas. Nine months later daughter Lisa Marie was born. The tumultuous marriage lasted only six years. After the divorce in 1973, neither of them remarried.

Lisa Marie herself pursued a singing career. She released three studio albums, most recently “Storm & Grace” in 2012. But most of all, the singer, who has been divorced four times, often made headlines because of her private life.

She married for the first time when she was 20. After divorcing musician Danny Keough in 1994, the Elvis daughter was married to pop star Michael Jackson for nearly two years. Her later marriage to actor Nicolas Cage ended after only three and a half months. She divorced record producer Michael Lockwood in 2016 after ten years of marriage.

From the relationship with Lockwood come 14-year-old twin daughters. She is also survived by an adult daughter, actress Riley Keough (33, “Mad Max: Fury Road”, “The Guilty”). Presley’s son Benjamin Keough committed suicide in 2020 at the age of 27. She was “completely devastated,” her spokesperson said at the time to the American magazine “People”. “She loved that boy. He was the love of her life.”

“These are some of the darkest days of my family’s life. The shock of losing Ben is devastating,” Priscilla Presley wrote on Facebook after her grandson’s death. Now the Elvis widow must come to terms with the loss of her only daughter.

The sudden death of the singer caused consternation in Hollywood. “Lisa, little girl, I’m so sorry. I will miss you but I know I will see you again,” actor John Travolta wrote on Instagram with a photo of Lisa Marie. “So sad to have lost another bright star,” Oscar winner Octavia Spencer wrote on Twitter This is heartbreaking, singer LeAnn Rimes mourned on Twitter. “I hope she finds peace in her father’s arms.” (sda/dpa)