Yahoo Lifestyle Lisa Marie Presley Memoir Reveals Why She Kept Son Benjamin's Body on Dry Ice for 2 Months After His Death
Riley Keough writes that her mom Lisa Marie Presley wanted to "have ample time to say goodbye" to her son — "the same way she'd done with her dad" Elvis Presley
Lisa Marie Presley's posthumous memoir is lifting the curtain on how the star grieved the loss of her son Benjamin Keough.
In From Here to the Great Unknown, Lisa Marie writes that after Benjamin, whom his family called Ben Ben, died by suicide at age 27 in 2020, she decided to keep his body on dry ice for two months, in a separate casitas bedroom in their home in Los Angeles.
"There is no law in the state of California that you have to bury someone immediately," Lisa Marie writes.
Lisa Marie's daughter Riley Keough, Benjamin's sister, writes that it was "really important" for her mom to "have ample time to say goodbye to him, the same way she'd done with her dad" Elvis Presley, who died in 1977 when she was 9.
To get Benjamin's body into the home, Lisa Marie writes she enlisted the help of a compassionate funeral home owner.
"Having my dad in the house after he died was incredibly helpful because I could go and spend time with him and talk to him," Lisa Marie writes.
Lisa Marie writes they had to keep the room with Benjamin's body at 55 degrees. She went back and forth while deciding where to bury him: Hawaii or Graceland.
"That was part of why it took so long," she writes. "I got so used to him, caring for him and keeping him there. I think it would scare the living f---ing 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," she continues.
At one point, Riley writes, she and her mother decided to get tattoos in Benjamin's honor. He'd had Riley's name tattooed on his collarbone and Lisa's tattooed on his hand, so they decided to get his name tattooed on the corresponding parts of their bodies.
In order to get the tattoo perfect, Lisa Marie invited the tattoo artist into the room with Benjamin's body to see his tattoos up close.
"I've had an extremely absurd life, but this moment is in the top five," Riley writes.
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Riley Keough, Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie Presley and Benjamin Keough in 2010Soon after they got their tattoos, Riley writes, "we all got this vibe from my brother that he didn't want his body in this house anymore. '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---!'"
The family went on to hold a funeral service for Benjamin in Malibu. Lisa Marie ultimately decided to have him buried in Graceland, with his grandfather Elvis. In his casket, Riley placed a pair of her yellow Nikes that he had always loved.
Three years after Benjamin's death, Lisa Marie died at age 54 of a small bowel obstruction, a long-term complication from bariatric surgery. A month before her death, Riley told her mom she'd help her complete her memoir, and she's now made good on that promise.
"Because my mother was Elvis Presley’s daughter, she was constantly talked about, argued over and dissected,” Riley told PEOPLE in an exclusive email interview for last week's cover story. “What she wanted to do in her memoir, and what I hope I’ve done in finishing it for her, is to go beneath the magazine headline idea of her and reveal the core of who she was. To turn her into a three-dimensional human being: the best mother, a wild child, a fierce friend, an underrated artist, frank, funny, traumatized, joyous, grieving, everything that she was throughout her remarkable life. I want to give voice to my mother in a way that eluded her while she was alive.”
From Here to the Great Unknown is available now.
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