The sad death of Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis and Priscilla Presley’s only child horrified the entire world. Lisa Marie went into cardiac arrest on January 12 and was transported to a nearby hospital, according to TMZ, just two days after she and her mother attended the Golden Globes. The 54-year-old musician supposedly received epinephrine before being taken to the hospital and regaining a pulse.
On the other hand, Priscilla confirmed her daughter’s death to People in a heartfelt note a few hours after news of her hospitalization broke.
“Lisa Marie, my beautiful daughter, has left us, and I must deliver the awful news to you,” Priscilla stated. “I’ve never met someone as passionate, strong, and loving as she was. We ask for privacy as we cope with this sad loss. I appreciate your prayers and love.”
Despite being the sole child of a world legend, Lisa Marie had a tough life and battled addiction. She struggled with alcoholism and admitted to using various drugs over the years. She also spent time in rehab on many occasions. Here’s a look at Lisa Marie’s problematic addiction history.
Lisa Marie Presley’s lifelong battle with addiction began at a young age. According to the Daily Mail, Elvis Presley’s only child began using drugs when she was just 13 years old. Lisa Marie battled for many years after that. According to The Irish Examiner, she confirmed as much to Paper magazine in 2003. “I was on a 72-hour binge. Cannabis, alcohol, cocaine, and sedatives are all drugs. I’m not sure if I saw it all the way through.”
Lisa Marie joined the Church of Scientology after a long binge to get instruction and, most importantly, to achieve recovery. She had stopped using narcotics by the age of 18. (the singer would eventually part ways with Scientology). On the other hand, Lisa Marie relapsed into heroin addiction in 2008, not long after giving birth to twins Vivienne and Finley with her ex-husband Michael Lockwood. This was after years of abstinence.
In the foreword to Harry Nelson’s 2015 book “The United States of Opiates: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain,” she writes, “I was healing after the birth of my daughters… when a doctor prescribed me opioids for pain.”
“I merely needed a short-term opioid prescription in the hospital to feel the urge to continue taking them,” Lisa Marie explained. The singer, she explained, had a difficult path to conquer her troubles, but she gave it her all for the sake of her children.
Lisa Marie Presley struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for most of her life, but her addiction peaked when she married her ex-husband Michael Lockwood. Lisa Marie admitted in a deposition during their tough divorce that she “abused cocaine badly” during the final three years of their marriage. “I had to go to rehab numerous times,” she said. “I was a colossal failure. I couldn’t stop myself.”
Lisa Marie also acknowledged using additional narcotics in addition to alcohol on occasion.
In a 2018 interview with “Today,” the singer stated that she had made tremendous progress toward rehabilitation and thanked her four children and her late father, Elvis Presley, for helping her through some of her darkest periods. “I am proud,” Lisa Marie stated.
“You’re a miracle, you honestly are, my therapist remarked to me,” she said. “I’m surprised you’re still alive.” The late singer justified her decision to speak out, stating she wanted to set a good example for others going through similar experiences. Lisa Marie confessed that no one is perfect, including herself and her father. “What is important is what you do with it after you grasp it and try to use it to help others.”
Lisa Marie Presley’s fight with substance abuse may have had the unintended consequence of making her acutely aware of similar issues in others. That was essential in Presley’s brief marriage to Michael Jackson, one of her most famous relationships. Presley said that Jackson’s substance addiction issues were the catalyst for their marriage’s demise. Jackson, too, struggled with addiction.
In a lengthy interview with Oprah Winfrey after Jackson’s death, Presley spoke extensively about Jackson’s troubles and divorce. Presley claimed to have heard about Jackson’s addiction before filing for divorce, but according to Jezebel, she first gave him an ultimatum. “The drugs or me,” she reportedly said. Finally, Presley added, Jackson was not ready to pursue recovery. “If you forced him to face something he didn’t want to face, he might force you to leave, even his own family. They then crossed to the other side.”
After learning of Jackson’s death, the 54-year-old reportedly claimed, “I saw the drugs and doctors were coming in, and they scared me, and that took me back into what I went through with my father — and that finished it,” according to Express.
