Lisa Marie Presley‘s shocking death pulled her family apart.
Lisa’s Death
The world was rocked by the singer-songwriter’s sudden passing in January 2023 at the age of 54. She passed from cardiac arrest, with a “small bowel obstruction.” The obstruction was linked to adhesions caused by bariatric surgery performed several years prior.
And the loss deeply affected the dynamics of the family. This included Lisa Marie’s children, Riley Keough, 36, and 17-year-old twins Harper Lockwood and Finley Lockwood. Lisa’s mom, Priscilla Presley, admitted “it kind of separated us in a way” during a chat at Westgate Las Vegas on May 2.
Family Pulled Apart
The Naked Gun actress added that the separation was due in part to Lisa and her ex-husband Michael Lockwood’s youngest children, Harper and Finley, about to step foot into adulthood, saying, “They’ve got their boyfriends and do their thing.”
But Priscilla and her 71-year-old former partner, Marco Garibaldi’s son, Navarone Garibaldi, 39, think the shift stems from when Lisa Marie and her first husband, 61-year-old Danny Keough’s second child, Benjamin Keough, died by suicide in 2020, at the age of 27.
He added, “When you would think that should be something that would bring everyone together. That somehow separated us further because everyone grieves in different ways.”
And Navarone argued he feels “like we’re actually closer together”, following Lisa Marie’s death.
Urging Lisa On
Priscilla urged Lisa Marie to keep going for the sake of her family after the latter declared she “didn’t want to be here anymore” after Benjamin departed.
In September 2025, she recalled to PEOPLE magazine, “[Ben] was absolutely the love of her life. She didn’t want to be here anymore [after his suicide]. She wanted to be with Ben … I’d tell her, ‘Lisa, you’ve got the twins. You have to take care of the twins.’ She tried. She really did.”
Three years later, Priscilla struggled to come to terms with the death of Lisa Marie, whom she had with her late ex-husband, King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley. She added that “it was the second saddest day of my life, other than losing Elvis.”
Riley Keough’s Input
Priscilla’s granddaughter, Riley, said “there was a lot of chaos in every aspect of our lives” immediately following her mom’s passing, in an interview with Vanity Fair in August 2023.
The Jay Kelly star added, “Everything felt like the carpet had been ripped out and the floor had melted from under us. Everyone was in a bit of a panic to understand how we move forward, and it just took a minute to understand the details of the situation, because it’s complicated.”
Riley noted that “there was a bit of upheaval, but now everything’s going to be how it was.”