The tragic passing of Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, shocked the entire world. Lisa Marie experienced a heart arrest on January 12 and was rushed to a local hospital, per TMZ, just two days after she and her mother attended the Golden Globe Awards. Before being sent to the hospital, the 54-year-old singer allegedly received epinephrine and was able to regain a pulse.
However, Priscilla revealed her daughter’s passing to People in a sorrowful message a few hours after word of her hospitalization surfaced.
My beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us, and I must break the heartbreaking news to you,’ Priscilla said. “I have never met a lady who was as passionate, strong and loving as she was. We request discretion as we work to process this tragic loss. Thank you for your prayers and love.”
It’s no secret that Lisa Marie had a difficult life and battled addiction despite being the sole child of a world legend. She struggled with alcoholism and has acknowledged to using other drugs throughout the years. She also underwent multiple stays in rehab. Here’s a peek inside Lisa Marie’s troubled past with addiction.
Lisa Marie Presley’s devastatingly early addiction battle has lasted her entire life. The only child of Elvis Presley reportedly started using narcotics when she was barely 13 years old, according to the Daily Mail. After that, Lisa Marie struggled for many more years. She admitted as much to Paper magazine in 2003, according to The Irish Examiner “I had been on a 72-hour binge. Cannabis, alcohol, cocaine, and sedatives. I’m not sure if I saw it through.”
After a protracted binge, Lisa Marie made the decision to enlist in the Church of Scientology to seek instruction and, most importantly, to achieve sobriety. By the time she was 18 she had quit using drugs (the singer would eventually part ways with Scientology). However, Lisa Marie unfortunately started her spiral back into heroin addiction in 2008, not long after giving birth to her twins Vivienne and Finley with her ex-husband Michael Lockwood. This was after years of remaining clean.
She wrote, “I was recovering after the birth of my daughters… when a doctor prescribed me opioids for pain,” in the foreword to Harry Nelson’s 2015 book “The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain” (via People). “I simply needed a short-term prescription of opioids in the hospital for me to feel the need to keep taking them,” Lisa Marie continued. The singer, she said, experienced a challenging road to overcome her problems, but she gave it her all for the benefit of her children.
Although Lisa Marie Presley battled drug and alcohol addiction for the most of her life, the singer’s dependence peaked while she was married to her ex-husband Michael Lockwood. During the difficult divorce, Lisa Marie acknowledged in a deposition that she had “abused cocaine horribly” throughout the final three years of their marriage. She admitted, “I had to go to rehab multiple times” (via RadarOnline). “I was a disaster. I could not halt.”
Lisa Marie also admitted that she occasionally used other drugs in addition to alcohol.
The singer said in a 2018 interview with “Today” that she had made significant progress on the road to recovery and gave thanks to her four children as well as her late father, Elvis Presley, for guiding her through some of her darkest moments. Lisa Marie said, “I am proud.”
She went on, “You’re a miracle, you truly are, my therapist said to me. I’m amazed you’re still alive.” The late singer explained why she decided to speak out, saying she wanted to serve as an example for those who are going through similar things. No one is flawless, Lisa Marie admitted, including herself and her father. What you do with it after you understand it and then try to use it to assist others is what matters.
Lisa Marie Presley’s battle with unhealthy substance usage may have had the benefit of making her extremely perceptive to similar problems in others. That was significant in Presley’s brief marriage to Michael Jackson, one of her more well-known partnerships. Presley claimed that Jackson’s substance abuse troubles were the impetus for the breakdown of their marriage. Jackson too battled addiction concerns.
Presley spoke in-depth about Jackson’s issues and their divorce in a lengthy interview she gave to Oprah Winfrey after Jackson passed away. Prior to filing for divorce, Presley claimed to have learned of Jackson’s addiction; but, according to Jezebel, she gave him an ultimatum first. Her reported words were, “The drugs or me.” In the end, Presley continued, Jackson wasn’t prepared to seek sobriety at that time. “He might force you to leave, even his own family, if you forced him to face anything he didn’t want to face. They then moved to the other side of that.”
The 54-year-old reportedly said, “I saw the drugs and doctors were coming in and they scared me and that took me back into what I went through with my father — and that finished it” after learning of Jackson’s passing, according to Express.
