How Lisa Marie Presley's matching tattoo with her son Ben Keough helped her grieve
When Lisa Marie Presley's son Benjamin Keough died by suicide in 2020 she began living on borrowed time, Elvis Presley's granddaughter Riley Keough told Oprah Winfrey in an exclusive prime-time special "An Oprah Special: The Presleys — Elvis, Lisa Marie and Riley," that aired Tuesday.
"I just couldn't imagine a world where she would make it without him," said Keough as she recalled the final years she shared with her famous mother, and how she processed her brother's death, as she finished co-writing "From Here to the Great Unknown," Lisa Marie's posthumous memoir.
"She would say 'I'm going to die of a broken heart' and I think we felt that," Keough told Winfrey.
Lisa Marie's grief was so immense that she kept Ben's coffin in her home for about two months after his death. She worked with a funeral homeowner to ensure the body was preserved — using dry ice — until it was ready for burial.
"Everybody in the house was in the grieving process," said Keough, adding that Lisa Marie felt comfort when she sat by the body.
During the mourning period, Lisa Marie called in a tattoo artist to help get her ink before laying Ben to rest. She wanted to have a tattoo like his on her hand — the same place he had a tattoo.
"My mom was just very much herself," Keough said. "She wasn't a crazy lady."
Keough recalls how Lisa Marie took the artist to Ben's coffin to show him the tattoo placement, ensuring that the placement would be exactly right.
"He's like, okay, do you have any photos?" Keough remembers the tattoo artist asking. "And she was like 'No, but I can show you.'"
Keough said the tattoo artist was very professional, studied the placement, and created the meaningful tattoo for Lisa Marie.
The tattoo honoring their mother-son connection proved how close the pair were. In her memoir, Lisa Marie wrote about how much Ben resembled her father Elvis.
"Ben was very similar to his grandfather, very, very, very, and in every way. He even looked like him. Ben was so much like him, it scared me. I didn't want to tell him because I thought it was too much to put on a kid. We were very close. He'd tell me everything. Ben and I had the same relationship that my father and his mother had. It was a generational f-–ing cycle. Gladys loved my dad so much that she drank herself to death worrying about him. Ben didn't stand a f-–ing chance," Lisa Marie wrote.
Stream Winfrey's exclusive hourlong interview with Keough on Tuesday, Oct. 8, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. "An Oprah Special: The Presleys — Elvis, Lisa Marie and Riley" will stream live on Paramount+ for "Paramount+ with Showtime" subscribers and will be available on demand the next day for "Paramount+ Essentials" subscribers.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, you can reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You can also chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline here.
For more information about mental health care resources and support, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email info@nami.org.
