Lisa Marie Presley: Scientology, trips to Tipperary and a fondness for Murphys
Lisa Marie Presley faced many tragedies in her lifetime
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Lisa Marie Presley, the singer-songwriter and only child of Elvis Presley, died on Thursday aged 54.
The daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie followed in her father's footsteps, releasing three albums during her lifetime.
Her last public appearance was on Tuesday at the Golden Globes, where Austin Butler won the lead acting award for drama for his performance as in the Baz Luhrmann biopic.
Lisa Marie, who was just nine years old when her father died in 1977, said it took her days to process the movie because Butler's performance was "so spot on and authentic”.
Presley was born on February 1, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee – nine months after her parents’ wedding.
When they divorced six years later she lived with her mother in Los Angeles but would frequently travel back to her father’s Graceland mansion.
She was nine when her father died in 1977 aged just 42.
On her 25th birthday in 1993, she inherited the estate which contemporary reports estimated to be worth some 100 million US dollars.
Presley released three albums during her lifetime – To Whom It May Concern (2003), Now What (2005) and Storm & Grace (2012) - and toured extensively.
In an interview with in 2012, she said she has "always been an admirer" of her father's music and said "he’s always influenced” her own music.
On the 30th anniversary of her father’s death in August 2007 she posthumously duetted with him by adding her own vocals to his 1969 single In The Ghetto.
Like her father, Lisa Marie struggled with addiction and her many marriages and subsequent divorces were well documented in the press.
The singer was married and divorced four times, first to musician Danny Keough, then singer Michael Jackson, Hollywood star Nicolas Cage, and music producer Michael Lockwood.
Her most famous marriage was to Jackson, between 1994 to 1996, which brought together the so-called King of Pop with the daughter of The King.
Their most high-profile moment came 1994 MTV Video Music Awards (MVAs) where they made a surprise joint appearance on-stage to introduce the show.
After declaring of their romance that “Nobody thought this would last,” Jackson passionately kissed her in front of the screaming audience.
Her marriage to Cage, a member of the Coppola family and a relative of Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, also attracted media attention.
The couple split up after just 108 days of marriage.
At the time, Presley said in a statement: “I’m sad about this but we shouldn’t have been married in the first place. It was a big mistake.”
Lisa Marie had two children with Danny Keough, a daughter, Riley, and son, Benjamin, who tragically passed away in 2020. She also had twin girls Harper and Finley with ex-husband Michael Lockwood.
The child of the King admitted to abusing drugs throughout her teen years, and reportedly did five stints in rehab during her lifetime.
In 2003, she told magazine Scientology "saved her" from her drug addiction.
“I was on a 72-hour bender,” she said. “Cocaine, sedatives, pot and drinking – all at the same time. I don’t know how I lived through it.
"I woke up one day with a bunch of people on the floor and the coke dealer was in the room and I said, ‘Everybody get the hell out! That’s it. I’m done.’
"I drove myself to the Church of Scientology and said, ‘Somebody help me right now’.”
Lisa Marie said she got clean at 17, after attending a rehab centre run by the Scientologists, but she became addicted to opioids later in life following the birth of her twins in 2008.
Lisa Marie ended her affiliation with the Church of Scientology in 2014, stating that she had become "disenchanted" with the group as far back as 2008.
Lisa Marie tragically lost her eldest son, Benjamin Keough, in 2020. Benjamin died by suicide aged just 27.
In honor of National Grief Awareness Day, Lisa Marie penned an emotional essay for US publication about grief last year.
"Death is part of life whether we like it or not — and so is grieving. There is so much to learn and understand on the subject, but here's what I know so far.
"One is that grief does not stop or go away in any sense, a year, or years after the loss. Grief is something you will have to carry with you for the rest of your life, in spite of what certain people or our culture wants us to believe. You do not "get over it," you do not "move on," period.
"I've dealt with death, grief and loss since the age of 9 years old. I've had more than anyone's fair share of it in my lifetime and somehow, I've made it this far."
The singer wrote that it was "a real choice to keep going" and one she made "every single day".
"I keep going for my girls."
Lisa Marie Presley visited Ireland on a number of occasions throughout her life — once to look at properties in Cork, and on another occasion, to celebrate a New Year in Tipperary.
An article, first published in January 2007 in the claims Lisa Marie Presley once had plans to buy Mallow Castle in Co Cork.
The then 38-year-old viewed the historic castle with friends, which was on sale for €10 million.
She is also reported to have visited Waterloo Stud Farm, a 60-acre site with an indoor jumping arena, which is near the racecourse in Mallow and had the same asking price.
Lisa Marie Presley also spent time in Tipperary during her lifetime, once staying in Gurteen Castle in Kilsheelan to ring in the New Year.
Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on RTÉ Radio 1 on Thursday, Vincent 'Jasper' Murphy, the proprietor of McCarthy's Pub in Co Tipperary, said the Presleys had friends in the area and Lisa Marie, her kids and her mother Priscilla, paid a visit to his pub some 15 years ago.
"[The pub] was a favourite of their friends...they were in two or three times.
"It was a good family vibe, they were all just sitting around having a few drinks.
"On the first occasions, they actually had a sing-song," he recalls.
While they didn't sing an Elvis one, Murphy said they did oblige with a song — though whether it was Sweet Child O'Mine or Livin' On A Prayer, he couldn't remember.
What he did remember, was Lisa Marie's character. He said she was "very polite, very nice."
Lisa Marie enquired about purchasing antique beer taps on the counter of pub, first established in the 1840s, but Murphy said "not even Elvis Presley's daughter" was going to get his beer taps. He did, however, gift her some Guinness tankard glasses.
Although on the night, they were drinking Murphy's, not Guinness, he confirmed.
"I asked her if I could take a photograph before they left. So I have a photograph on the wall of herself, Priscilla and Michael Lockwood."
"When I went to take the photograph, she kind of put on a pout that made her look more like Elvis. She was actually quite attractive. But, this pout made her look more like Elvis. Obviously, she was used to putting in on for pictures all her life."
But Murphy said it was her son Benjamin, who tragically passed away in 2020, who beared an uncannny resemblance to the King.
"He looked so like Elvis, it was uncanny. He was only a little kid at the time, it was about 15 years ago... I remember just looking at him and saying, 'Jesus, he is Elvis."
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