Lisa Marie Presley was so devastated by the loss of her son, Benjamin Keough, that she kept his body in her home for two months after he passed away. She even invited a tattoo artist to see him so she could get matching tattoos.
This is just one of many surprising details in Lisa Marie’s new memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown, which was completed by her daughter, actress Riley Keough, after Lisa Marie passed away in January 2023.
Lisa Marie (left) next to her beloved son Ben, along with her third husband, Michael Lockwood, and a guest, at the London premiere of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” in November 2010.
Getty Images
In her book, Lisa Marie shared that she had to fight to stay alive for her other children, Riley and her twin daughters Harper and Finley, who are now 16. She didn’t say goodbye to Benjamin right away because she was torn between burying him in Hawaii or at Graceland, the Memphis estate where Elvis, her father, is buried.
Instagram/ Riley Keough
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Lisa Marie kept the room at 55 degrees to preserve Benjamin’s body and got so used to caring for him and having him there.
Riley and Lisa Marie decided to honor Benjamin by getting tattoos like his. Benjamin had his sister’s name on his collarbone and his mom’s name on his hand. Riley had her brother’s name tattooed on her collarbone, and a tattoo artist was called to Lisa Marie’s home to add Benjamin’s name to her hand. When the artist asked if they had photos of Benjamin’s tattoos to match the font and placement, Lisa Marie said, “No, but I can show you.”
Getty Images
Riley writes: “Lisa Marie Presley had just asked this poor man to look at her dead son, who was right next to us in the guest house. I’ve had a very strange life, but this moment is one of the weirdest.”
Lisa Marie also knew it was strange. She said, “I think it would scare the heck out of anyone else to have their son there like that. But not me.”
AFP via Getty Images
Soon after the tattoo day, Riley remembers that everyone felt like Benjamin wanted to be laid to rest.
Even Lisa Marie said she could feel him communicating with her, saying, “This is crazy, Mom, what are you doing? What the heck!”
The family held a funeral for Benjamin in Malibu, and New Age author Deepak Chopra led the ceremony. Riley said she had to keep her eyes closed the whole time because she was struggling to cope with everything.
Getty Images
Benjamin was buried at Graceland, next to Elvis, and Lisa Marie would later be buried there too.
Riley writes a lot about her brother’s struggles with mental health and how he often went on drinking binges. She doesn’t believe he truly wanted to die.
After his death, she and her mom went through his phone, looking for answers.
Bettmann Archive
Redferns
Riley writes, “We found a text he sent to my mom a couple of weeks before he died that said, ‘I think something’s wrong with me mentally. I think I have a mental health issue.’ It’s heartbreaking to me that he only realized he might need help just two weeks before he took his own life.”
You Won’t Believe How This Mom Responded to Public Breastfeeding Backlash!
The debate about breastfeeding in public has been going on for a long time. Now, a young mother is making her point, and it’s making some people upset. Let’s find out more about her.
When a baby is hungry, they don’t care where they are. Some moms feel uncomfortable breastfeeding in public, but not this young mother. She believes it’s important to breastfeed her 17-month-old daughter wherever they are, even in public.
Trinati breastfeeds her toddler openly, but not everyone around her is okay with it. She often gets strange looks, and sometimes store employees even ask her to breastfeed in a closet.
Broom closets aren’t good places for feeding babies. Trinati didn’t like it, so she did something about it. She had her son take a picture of her breastfeeding her baby daughter at Costco. She said, “I always give my kids what they need, no matter where we are.”
Trinati doesn’t just get looks from strangers. Even her friends and family ask, “How long will you do that?” She always says, “As long as she needs me!” Sometimes they joke she’ll breastfeed until her daughter goes to kindergarten!
Trinati is tired of people making breastfeeding seem sexual or judging her for it. She said, “Really? Have you seen breastfeeding? My nipples don’t look like anything to fantasize about! Ha!
Trinati continued, saying, “These are basically udders right now. Get over yourself! I’m not trying to steal your man or lady with these bad girls! To me, they have become so far from feeling like a sexual part of my body. Right now they belong to my child for nourishment, both physically and emotionally.”
She wants to raise awareness about breastfeeding being something to nourish a child and in no way be something sexual.
“I don’t expect all men or those who have never breastfed to understand the ways in which mothers have the endurance to deal with nipple-pinching or straight-up acrobatics while breastfeeding,” she explained. “I have received the strangest glances and awkward giggles when people watch my 1.5-year-old standing on my lap while suckling … sometimes on one leg!”
To make breastfeeding in public normal, she took a picture of herself breastfeeding her toddler. She wanted to show how mothers always care for their kids, no matter where they are.
“I had my son take that photo of us in Costco because I never want to forget (and [I want to] show my daughter in the future) the lengths we, as mothers, will go to when ensuring our kids are well looked after no matter the situation,” she said.
“My baby’s needs come waaaaaay before anyone else’s attempts to make me feel inappropriate for this sometimes-public act of nourishing and/or comforting my children,” she wrote in the caption for the Instagram post.
She wants her children to know they are always her top priority, no matter what others think.
“Trust is important for good relationships and it starts with the care we get as kids,” she said. “Breastfeeding shows my children I care, so I won’t feel ashamed for doing it in any place.”
There are different opinions about breastfeeding in public. What do you think? Tell us in the comments!
Share this with others to start a discussion!
Leave a Reply