Short, turbulent life of Elvis’ grandson

The Presley family is in mourning today with the news that Lisa Marie Presley’s only son, Benjamin Keough, has died by apparent suicide at the age of 27.

It’s a tragically early end for perhaps the most reclusive member of this very famous family.

GROWING UP IN THE TABLOIDS

Benjamin was born in 1992, a second child for mum Lisa Marie and father Danny Keough. Danny was a musician and bass player; Lisa Marie, the only child of perhaps the most famous figure in modern music, Elvis Presley.

Lisa Marie and Danny divorced in 1994 – just 20 days later, she married superstar Michael Jackson in one of the most infamous and bizarre unions of the 90s. The quickie wedding came as Jackson faced a string of allegations of child sexual abuse. It was later claimed that Lisa Marie and her two young children “rarely” stayed in the same house as Jackson during the marriage.

That marriage would last two years, with Lisa Marie filing for divorce in January 1996, when Benjamin was three, citing “irreconcilable differences.”

Lisa Marie would wed a third time, to actor Nicolas Cage, in 2002 when Benjamin was nine years old. That marriage lasted 108 days before Cage filed for divorce.

Presley’s longest-lasting marriage was her fourth, to guitarist Michael Lockwood, who she divorced after a decade in 2016. That union gave Benjamin two younger sisters: twins Harper and Finley, born in 2008.

AN ELVIS LOOKALIKE 

Benjamin shared a striking resemblance to his late grandfather, something his mother herself once acknowledged in an interview, revealing he’d caused quite a stir when he accompanied her to a performance at the iconic Grand Ole Opry in 2012 (pictured above): “Ben does look so much like Elvis. He was at the Opry and was the quiet storm behind the stage. Everybody turned around and looked when he was over there. Everybody was grabbing him for a photo because it is just uncanny,” she said.

FAMILY MONEY TROUBLES

The vast Presley fortune has dramatically dwindled in recent years, with Benjamin’s mother Lisa Marie claiming her former business manager squandered her entire share of Elvis’ $US100 million ($135 million) fortune.

In 2018 court documents, Lisa Marie alleged that Barry Siegel assured her that her finances were in “good shape” while he whittled her $US100 million ($135 million) trust down to just $US14,000 ($19,000) in poor investments.

Last year Benjamin’s grandmother Priscilla Presley was forced to sell her Los Angeles mansion to help out her daughter with her mounting debts.

“Priscilla would never have done this if she didn’t believe it was her daughter’s last chance,” a source told Radar of the $US5.5 million sale at the time.

FINAL FAMILY PHOTO

The most recent photo of Benjamin on his mother’s Instagram account was posted in June of last year. It shows Lisa Marie with her two older children, Benjamin and Riley, alongside her younger twin daughters from her fourth marriage to guitarist Michael Lockwood.

“Mama lion with cubs,” she captioned the sweet family pic.

And in a statement provided to EW today, a representative for Lisa Marie said she was “beyond devastated” over her only son’s death.

“She is completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated but trying to stay strong for her 11-year-old twins and her oldest daughter Riley,” the statement read. “She adored that boy. He was the love of her life.”