Riley Keough detailed the heartbreaking moment she had to tell her mom, Lisa Marie Presley, that her brother, Benjamin Keough, died by suicide in 2020.
“My mother was asleep in her hotel room,” Riley, 35, wrote in her new book “From Here to the Great Unknown,” which came out Tuesday.
“I ran to her suite and started banging on the door,” the actress continued. “I already knew, clear as day, in those moments banging on her door, that any time I got with her after what was about to happen would be a gift. I couldn’t imagine her living without my brother.”
The “Daisy Jones & the Six” star recalled her late brother throwing a party at their mom’s Calabasas, Calif., home while Presley was staying in a hotel due to mold in the house.
Benjamin “went upstairs” at around 3:30 a.m. to “get a beer,” Riley shared, noting that it took partygoers “almost an hour” to realize that he “had gone missing.”
It wasn’t until around 5:30 a.m. on that grave day that Riley received a call and knew something “serious” had happened. Her mom’s assistant then informed her that Benjamin had died by suicide at the age of 27 and she swiftly ran to her mom to let her know the horrific news.
Once she informed her mom and dad, Danny Keough, about Benjamin’s untimely death, Riley and Presley went to the home together.
“What did you do, Benjamin?” Presley told her daughter upon seeing her son’s body for the first time, adding that she stayed in a state of “shock” for two weeks after.
Riley also divulged that Presley kept Benjamin’s body in the house for two months after his death.
“We had to keep the room at 55 degrees — before burying him at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee,” she shared.
In the years after losing her son, Riley wrote that her mom’s health began “deteriorating.”
“Despite all this love she still had inside her, and all of her effort to life, we could all see it,” Riley wrote. “We all knew my mom was going to die of a broken heart.”
In January 2023, Danny called Riley to let her know that Presley had gone into cardiac arrest and she immediately hopped on a plane to be by her side.
Soon after, he informed Riley via text message that Presley had passed away.
“She passed a few minutes ago, honey. Didn’t want to tell you by text. But I’m worried it’s going to hit the papers,” Riley recalled her dad writing in the text message.
“I love you so much I’m really sorry to tell you like this. I don’t want you to be blindsided when you get off the plane.”
Priscilla Presley confirmed that her daughter had died after going into cardiac arrest on Jan, 12, 2023. 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 at the time. “She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known.”
The only daughter of Elvis Presley was laid to rest beside her beloved son Benjamin at Graceland on Jan. 22, 2023.
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