Lisa Marie Presley Kept Her Son’s Body at Home for 2 Months After His Death—Meet Her 4 Children

Danielle Riley Keough

Born: May 29, 1989
Father: Danny Keough

Danielle Riley Keough is Lisa Marie Presley’s first child and eldest daughter with her first husband, Danny Keough. She was born on May 29, 1989, at the Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. Lisa Marie and Danny married in 1988 and divorced in 1994 when Riley was six years old. She spent most of her childhood between California, where Lisa Marie lived, and Hawaii, where Danny lived. “I grew up very privileged with my mother,” Riley told The Guardian in 2017. “But my dad didn’t live like that. And I think experiencing both sides has been helpful. My father had mattresses on the floor of his apartments. He lived in cabins and trailer parks. He just didn’t have much money.” Did she ever think, “Ugh, do I have to go back to Dad’s again?”

Like her family, Riley also works in the entertainment industry. She started modeling at 14 years old for brands like Dolce & Gabbana and Christian Dior, and appeared on the cover of magazines like Vogue, Elle Japan, Korean Vogue, Jalouse, and L’Officiel. In 2010, when she was 20 years old, Riley made her on-screen debut in the movie The Runaways.

She went on to star in movies like The Good Doctor, Jack & Diane, Magic Mike, Mad Max: Fury Road, as well as the music video for Justin Timberlake’s 2013 song “TKO” until her breakthrough role in Starz’ show The Girlfriend Experience, which was executive produced by Steven Soderbergh and premiered in 2016. The show earned Keough her first Golden Globe nomination in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television category in 2016. After The Girlfriend Experience, Riley went on to star in shows like Riverdale, The Terminal List and Daisy Jones & The Six, as well as movies like American Honey and Zola. She married her husband, Ben Smith-Petersen, in 2015.

In an interview with Women’s Wear Daily in 2022,  Keough responded to accusations of nepotism because of her family. “It helps you in so many ways, it helps you have more resources,” she said. “I think it’s separate inherently because it’s not music as well. So I think there’s a level of separation, there’s also a generation of separation.”

Keough also opened up about the death of her brother, Benjamin Storm Keough, in an interview with The New York Times in 2021. Benjamin died by suicide on July 12, 2020. He was 27 years old. She told the newspaper that the past year felt like “I was thrown into the ocean and couldn’t swim.” She continued, “The first four or five months, I couldn’t get out of bed. I was totally debilitated. I couldn’t talk for two weeks.” She also told The New York Times that she still didn’t understand the death of her brother. “It’s very complicated for our minds to put that somewhere because it’s so outrageous. If I’m going through a breakup, I know what to do with that and where to file it in my mind, but suicide of your brother? Where do you put that? How does that integrate? It just doesn’t,” she said.

Keough also revealed that she became a death doula after Benjamin’s death to help others experiencing grief. “I wanted to make sure that I was feeling everything and I wasn’t running from anything,” she said. “If I can help other people, maybe I can find some way to help myself.” She also told The New York Times that the experience gave her a better understanding of the “fragility of life.” She continued, “I think growing up, I was always searching for answers. Now I know that everything’s inside me. All you can do is surrender and be present for the experience.”

Benjamin Storm Keough

Born: October 21, 1992
Father: Danny Keough.

Lisa Marie and Danny married in 1988 and divorced in 1994 when Benjamin was two years old. In a past interview, Lisa Marie, who wrote the song “Storm and Grace” about Benjamin (“Storm” is his middle name), stated that she believed her son looks like his grandfather, Elvis. “Ben does look so much like Elvis.

He was at the Opry and was the quiet storm behind the stage,” she said. “Everybody turned around and looked when he was over there. Everybody was grabbing him for a photo because it is just uncanny.” Like Elvis, Benjamin was also a musician and signed a record deal for $5 million in 2009, according to TMZ. He has also acted like his older sister, Riley.

Benjamin died by suicide on July 12, 2020, in Calabasas, California. He was 27 years old. A representative for the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner Coroner’s Office confirmed to TMZ that Benjamin died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his mouth. His cause of death was classified as a suicide.

“[Lisa Marie] is completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated but trying to stay strong for her 11-year-old twins and her oldest daughter Riley. She adored that boy. He was the love of her life,” Lisa Marie’s manager, Roger Widynowski, said in a statement at the time. Benjamin was buried on October 2, 2020, at the Meditation Garden in Graceland. “Benjamin Storm Presley Keough was laid to rest in the Meditation Garden at Graceland with his family including his grandfather, Elvis Presley, great-grandmother, Gladys Presley, great-grandfather, Vernon Presley and great-great-grandmother, Minnie Mae Presley,” read a post by Graceland’s official Facebook account.

Lisa Marie was buried next to her son at Graceland after her death on January 12, 2023. “Lisa Marie’s final resting place will be at Graceland, next to her beloved son Ben,” a statement from Benjamin’s sister and Lisa Marie’s daughter Riley Keough’s representative read.

Brandon Howard, Benjamin’s close friend, told People at the time he believed Benjamin suffered from the pressure of being a part of the Presley family. “That kind of pressure is definitely a part of what happened,” he said. “It’s a tough thing when you have a lot of pressure with your family and living up to a name and an image. It’s a lot of pressure. It’s almost like you’re pressured into having to be a musician, having to be an actor. It was good for him to go around the world and discover himself and have his own friends. You never know what triggers it. You never know … It’s so random.” He also added that Benjamin “sometimes struggled with depression.”

In an essay for People in 2022, Lisa Marie opened up about the grief after Benjamin’s death. “Since I have been living in the horrific reality of its unrelenting grips since my son’s death two years ago, I thought I would share a few things to be aware of in regard to grief for anyone who is interested. If not to help yourself but maybe to help another who is grieving,” she wrote. “This is not a comfortable subject for anyone, and it is most unpopular to talk about. This is quite long, potentially triggering and very hard to confront. But if we’re going make any progress on the subject, grief has to get talked about. I’m sharing my thoughts in the hopes that somehow, we can change that.”

In Lisa Marie Presley’s forthcoming memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown , she wrote how she kept her son’s dead body in her house for two months. “My house has a separate casitas bedroom and I kept Ben Ben in there for two months. There is no law in the state of California that you have to bury someone immediately,” in an excerpt published by Page Six. “I found a very empathetic funeral home owner… She said, ‘We’ll bring Ben Ben to you’.”

If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. Call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for free, confidential support. 

Finley Aaron Love Lockwood

Born: October 7, 2008
Father: Michael Lockwood

Finley Aaron Love Lockwood is Lisa Marie Presley’s third and one-half of her fraternal twin daughters with her fourth husband, Michael Lockwood. They were born on October 7, 2008. Lisa Marie and Michael married in 2006 and separated in 2016. They finalized their divorce in 2021 when Finley and Harper were 13 years old.

Harper Vivienne Ann Lockwood

Born: October 7, 2008
Father: Michael Lockwood

Harper and Finley joined Lisa Marie, their older sister Riley, and their grandmother Priscilla Presley at a handprint ceremony honoring three generations of Presleys at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California in June 2022.