Lisa Marie Presley was best known as Elvis Presley’s daughter, but she also had four kids of her own: Riley Keough, Benjamin Keough, Finley Lockwood, and Harper Lockwood.
The singer, who died on January 12 at age 54 after being taken to the hospital for a possible heart attack, said she was “ferociously protective” of her children. “I just smother them in love,” she told Healthy Living in 2014 when they asked her about her parenting style.
“They are my priority. That’s what I do. That’s what I care most about. I keep them close to me and make sure they are happy and healthy.”
Lisa Marie and her ex-husband Danny Keough had two children, Riley and Benjamin. They were married from 1988 to 1994. In 2008, she and Michael Lockwood, who was her husband at the time, had twin daughters named Harper and Finley.
The couple got a divorce in 2016. Benjamin killed himself in July 2020, and Lisa Marie was “more than devastated” by her son’s death. She was open about her sadness in the years that followed.
On Benjamin’s birthday, she posted tributes, and in 2022, she wrote an emotional essay about the loss. “It’s a real choice to keep going, one that I have to make every single day and one that is constantly challenging to say the least… But I keep going for my girls,” she wrote in honor of National Grief Awareness Day.
“I keep going because my son made it very clear in his final moments that taking care of his little sisters and looking out for them were on the forefront of his concerns and his mind. He absolutely adored them and they him.”
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Lisa Marie passed out at her home in Calabasas, California, two days after going to the 2023 Golden Globes in early January. After EMTs came to the singer’s house and gave her CPR, she was taken to a nearby hospital.
Soon after, her mother, Priscilla Presley, told PEOPLE in a statement that her daughter 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 said.
“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. At this time there will be no further comment.” Here is all the information you need to know about Lisa Marie Presley’s four kids.
Riley Keough
On May 29, 1989, Lisa Marie and her husband at the time, Danny, had their first child, a daughter named Danielle Riley Keough. Riley has said that her mother and grandmother let her be her own person and not live in the shadow of her famous grandfather when she was growing up.
Riley told Oprah Winfrey in September 2007 that she knew who her grandfather was when she was young, but that it wasn’t “this big deal.”
That doesn’t mean that Riley hasn’t been very interested in Elvis. When Riley’s mother and grandmother went with her to the premiere of her movie Mad Max: Fury Road, they were called “the Presley women.”
Riley started modeling in 2004, and her first movie, War Pony, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2022. Riley and her co-director Gina Gammell were happy to be at the festival “We’re just happy to be here, that’s all. This was a collaboration between all of us, and this is all of our film.”
In 2015, Riley got married to Ben-Smith Petersen, an Australian stuntman. The first time the two were mentioned together was in January 2014. It was said that they met on the set of Mad Max: Fury Road.
The Golden Globe nominee has also been very open about her sadness over the death of her brother Benjamin. Riley shared a picture of herself and her brother on Instagram on the two-month anniversary of his death. “Two months without you. I would give anything for 1 more minute with you little brother,” she wrote.
Riley told the New York Times a year later that the past year had been hard. It had been “a year of feeling like I was thrown into the ocean and couldn’t swim,” Riley said. “The first four or five months, I couldn’t get out of bed. I was totally debilitated. I couldn’t talk for two weeks.”
In the upcoming show Daisy Jones & The Six, Riley plays a musician with a free spirit who doesn’t follow the rules. She told sources that Daisy makes her think of her mother during an interview.
“I was raised by somebody who did their own thing and didn’t really care what other people thought. [My mom] was definitely inspirational to me,” Riley said. “[I was] always interested in women who weren’t behaving ‘the right way.'”
Lisa Marie Presley was joined by daughter Riley Keough on Sunday as #Elvis’ Austin Butler and Baz Luhrmann commemorated Elvis’ birthday in Los Angeles. https://t.co/u7kz0dc7ee pic.twitter.com/HdKWh5KfzF
— Variety (@Variety) January 13, 2023
Benjamin Keough
Benjamin Storm Presley Keough, Lisa Marie and Danny’s second child were born on October 21, 1992. As he got older, fans noticed how much he looked like his grandfather, Elvis. But Benjamin took his own life in Calabasas, California, when he was 27 years old.
Following the news of his death in July 2020, a rep for Lisa Marie told sources, “She is completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated but trying to stay strong for her 11-year-old twins and her oldest daughter Riley, She adored that boy. He was the love of her life.”
Benjamin’s friend Brandon Howard talked to sources about Benjamin’s struggles with mental health and the “pressure” to live up to the Presley name.
“Sometimes he struggled with depression, which is a serious thing with [the COVID-19 pandemic] and everything happening right now and everybody being locked in the house,” he said.
“It’s a tough thing when you have a lot of pressure with your family and living up to a name and an image. It’s a lot of pressure. It’s almost like you’re pressured into having to be a musician, having to be an actor. It was good for him to go around the world and discover himself and have his own friends.”
Howard also remembered Benjamin as someone who helped others even when he was going through a hard time himself. “He has always been there for everybody,” he added.
“In any kind of situation, he would be the one who would come crash with you on the couch for weeks until you’re actually feeling better.”
Benjamin was buried at Graceland, the home of his grandfather in Memphis, Tennessee, in October 2020. Since his great-grandmother died in 1980, he was the first person to be buried at the house.
Graceland wrote on Facebook that Benjamin Storm Presley Keough was buried in the Meditation Garden at Graceland with his family, including his grandfather Elvis Presley, his great-grandmother Gladys Presley, his great-grandfather Vernon Presley, and his great-great-grandmother Minnie Mae Presley.
Lisa Marie talked about Benjamin’s death on his 28th birthday, which would have been in 2020. “My beautiful beautiful angel, I worshipped the ground you walked on, on this earth and now in Heaven,” she wrote alongside a photo from Benjamin’s 27th birthday. “My heart and soul went with you. The depth of the pain is suffocating and bottomless without you every moment of every day.”
Lisa Marie Presley — the only child of Elvis Presley — has died at 54. She just attended the Golden Globes and recently wrote a heartbreaking essay about her grief following her son Benjamin Keough’s death by suicide in 2020.
Rest in peace, Lisa Marie. pic.twitter.com/55u5uFY4Ib
— Eric Alper 🎧 (@ThatEricAlper) January 13, 2023
Harper and Finley Lockwood
In 2008, Lisa Marie told her then-husband Lockwood that they were going to have a baby. Later, they told everyone that they were actually going to have twins. On October 7, 2008, Harper Vivienne Anne Love and Finley Aaron Love were born.
Priscilla Presley, who is the mother of Lisa Marie, was there when Harper and Finley were born. Priscilla said that she was “very excited” to become a grandmother again because she had seen each baby take its first breath.
Shortly after that, Priscilla talked to Entertainment Tonight about how Lisa Marie and Lockwood were doing. She said, “Mother is doing great.”
“Father’s a little nervous. He’s a first-time dad, so it is the most beautiful thing to watch the way he holds and carries the babies. It’s so endearing to watch how delicate he is with the babies.”
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Lisa Marie filed for divorce from Lockwood in June 2016, after they had been married for 10 years. Soon, they were in a tough custody battle, and the twins were taken into protective custody after Lisa Marie’s lawyers said “disturbing” pictures of children were found on Lockwood’s computer. After the claims, the twins moved in with their grandmother.
“There is Lots of confusion, commotion and concern from all the talk circulating,” Priscilla shared on Facebook. “Let me put this to rest … the girls have not been in foster care and never will be. The girls have been with me and will be until all this is sorted out.”
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation closed its inquiry into the allegations in 2017, with T.B.I. Public Information Officer Josh DeVine telling sources, “Barring any new potential evidence or information, we have concluded our involvement in this matter. We have not been able to determine if a crime occurred in Tennessee and accordingly do not have an open investigation.”
The office also made it clear that a formal investigation was never opened, only an inquiry to “determine if [it] could substantiate information with which to open a case.”
In October 2017, Lisa Marie attended an ELLE Women in Hollywood event with her three daughters. This was the first time Lisa Marie took all three girls to a public event.
In March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic started, Lisa Marie and the twins started taking in stray dogs. Lisa Marie told everyone on Instagram by posting a picture of herself, the twins, and one of the dogs.
my twin daughters harper and finley lockwood my girls and michaels girls pic.twitter.com/zSXduLhcWa
— Lisa Marie Presley (@lisapresley14) March 7, 2015
“We’ve been fostering pups from a shelter,” she wrote. “Exhausting but so rewarding 👍🐶 be well❤️.” Follow us only on Lee Daily for more news like this.
