Lisa Marie Presley's Addiction Battles: 'It's a Difficult Path to Overcome'
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Lisa Marie Presley — daughter of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley — died Thursday evening after being rushed to the hospital for a possible cardiac arrest earlier in the day, her mother confirmed to PEOPLE. She was 54.
"It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us," Priscilla said in a statement. "She was the most passionate strong and loving woman I have ever known. We ask for privacy as we try to deal with this profound loss. Thank you for the love and prayers."
Prior to her death, Lisa Marie's setbacks were often in the spotlight, including her battle with addiction.
The singer-songwriter first revealed her addiction to painkillers and opioids in the foreword for Harry Nelson's book The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain.
"You may read this and wonder how, after losing people close to me, I also fell prey to opioids," wrote Lisa Marie, who saw both her father Elvis and ex-husband Michael Jackson die of complications from drug use.
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"I was recovering after the [2008] birth of my daughters, Vivienne and Finley, when a doctor prescribed me opioids for pain," she continued. "It only took a short-term prescription of opioids in the hospital for me to feel the need to keep taking them" due to their dangerous addictive properties.
Todd Williamson/NBC/NBC via Getty Lisa Marie Presley
"[It's] a difficult path to overcome this dependence, and to put my life back together," she added in the foreword. "Even in recent years, I have seen too many people I loved struggle with addiction and die tragically from this epidemic. It is time for us to say goodbye to shame about addiction. We have to stop blaming and judging ourselves and the people around us … That starts with sharing our stories."
In the book, Lisa Marie specifically mentioned her children as the purpose to stay sober. "As I write this, I think of my four children, who gave me the purpose to heal," she wrote after considering "the countless parents who have lost children to opioids and other drugs."
"[I'm] grateful to be alive today… and to have four beautiful children who have given me a sense of purpose that has carried me through dark times," she added.
Michael Tran/FilmMagic Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie attempted to keep her addiction fairly private, however details over her battle for sobriety emerged in the paperwork filed during her divorce from her fourth husband, musician Michael Lockwood.
Lockwood expressed concerns over her sobriety and said he believed she might relapse following the death of her son Benjamin Keough, who was rumored to also have struggled with drugs and alcohol. Benjamin died by suicide in 2020 at age 27.
In August 2022, Lisa Marie spoke about dealing with grief in an essay for PEOPLE, saying that the loss of her son "destroyed" her and she couldn't just "get over" the guilt and grief. But she said she made "a real choice to keep going" for her daughters Riley, 33, and twins Finley and Harper, 14.
RELATED: Lisa Marie Presley Gets Candid About Past Struggle with Drug Addiction: 'I Was Not Happy'
Addiction had been a part of Lisa Marie's life since she was a child, after her father Elvis succumbed to addiction when she was just 9 years old.
Decades later, Elvis' stepbrother David E. Stanley detailed the extent of his substance abuse in a memoir, My Brother Elvis: The Final Years.
He revealed that the music icon was taking numerous drugs that were crafted into what Stanley dubbed "attack packs." Each "pack" included a variety of six to 11 pills, along with a shot or three of Demerol, an opioid pain medication. Stanley wrote that Elvis would go through up to three "packs" a day – a schedule that often resulted in the singer passing out.
In August 1977, Elvis was found dead on the bathroom floor at his Memphis home, Graceland, at age 42. His death was ruled as "hypertensive cardiovascular disease associated with atherosclerotic heart disease," but there has long been a conspiracy over drug involvement in his demise.
"Beyond all the fame, fortune and hype, Elvis was a simple man who loved the Lord, his family, and his fans," Stanley said. "A man who was haunted by demons and insecurities that plague us all, and eventually lost the battle of addiction, as too many often do."
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.
