Lisa Marie Presley's heart was finally 'healing' from son's suicide before her death, says close friend: I saw 'how far she had come in her own pain'

• Lisa Marie Presley was coming to terms with the loss of her son, Benjamin Keough, before her death.

• Her friend David Kessler told People that "her heart was still broken" but it "was also healing."

• Keough died by suicide in 2020. Presley herself died on Thursday after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Lisa Marie Presley was finally coming to terms with the loss of her son, Benjamin Keough, before her own untimely death at the age of 54.

Presley's close friend David Kessler opened up to People following her passing last Thursday, revealing that she had made huge strides in her grieving process recently.

Kessler said that Lisa Marie, the only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, had been keeping busy by co-leading grief support groups with him, often held at her home in Calabasas, California.

"She had X-ray vision for other people's pain. When you were in her gaze, no one else existed. She was focused on you. She talked about turning her pain into purpose," Kessler said of Presley, who also penned an emotional essay about what she'd learned about grief five months ago.

He said that on Presley's most recent trip to the iconic Presley mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, Graceland, which came just five days before her death to mark what would have been her famous father's 88th birthday, she comforted a newly bereaved mother.

"She sat down with her for two to three hours and told her what to expect on this journey," Kessler told People.

"I just sat there watching how far she had come in her own pain. Her heart was still broken around Ben, but her heart was also healing around Ben."

Presley and Kessler, who is a death and grieving expert and has authored many books about the subject, became friends two years ago following the death of the singer's only son.

Keough, who was Presley's second child with her first husband, musician Danny Keough, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in July 2020. He was 27.

Presley is also mother to actor Riley Keough, 33, and 14-year-old twins Harper and Finley Lockwood, whom she shares with her fourth husband, Michael Lockwood.

Between marrying Keough in 1988 and Lockwood in 2006, Presley also had two brief marriages to Michael Jackson, who she was with between 1994 and 1996, and Nicolas Cage, who she was married to between 2002 and 2004.

According to TMZ, Presley experienced cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, California, last Thursday. Her mother, Priscilla Presley, later announced that she had died.

"It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us," Priscilla Presley said in a statement. "She was the most passionate, strong, and loving woman I have ever known."

Presley's representative also confirmed her death in a statement to Insider.

"Priscilla Presley and the Presley family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Lisa Marie," the statement from Presley's representative said. "They are profoundly grateful for the support, love, and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time."

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