Priscilla Presley speaks on Benjamin Keough's death: 'These are some of the darkest days of my family's life'
Priscilla Presley is grieving the loss of grandson Benjamin Keough. In her first public statement since Keough’s death, Presley — mother of Lisa Marie Presley — said “these are some of the darkest days of my family’s life.”
“The shock of losing Ben has been devastating,” Presley, 75, shared in a Facebook post on Wednesday. “Trying to put all the pieces together of all the possible whys has penetrated my soul.”
Keough died by suicide on July 12. He was 27. Keough is one of two children Lisa Marie had with her first husband, musician Danny Keough. They also share daughter, 31-year-old actress Riley Keough. The Presley blended family includes Lisa Marie’s 11-year-old twins, Harper and Finley, whom she had with ex-husband Michael Lockwood.
“Each day I wake up I pray it will get better,” Presley continued. “Then, I think of my daughter and the pain she is going through as she was a doting mother. Ben’s father, Danny, who is completely lost, as Ben was his only son. Riley, so loving and so close to him; Harper and Finley, who absolutely adored Ben. Navarone [Lisa Marie’s brother], who struggles deeply with loss and death. Rest In Peace Ben, you were loved.”
Lisa Marie, the only child of legend Elvis Presley, is “beyond devastated” amid the tragedy.
“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,” her manager said in a statement.
Riley honoured her “baby brother” in an emotional post on Instagram.
“Mornings are the hardest. I forget you’re gone. I can’t cry because of the fear that I will never stop. A pain that’s new to me. You. There are no words for you. Angel is the closest I could think of. Pure light,” she shared. “Too sensitive for this harsh world. I hope you give me strength to endure the giant hole you’ve left in my heart.”
As did Keough’s girlfriend of four years, Diana Pinto.
“You made me the luckiest girl in the world, to have you, to hold you, to love you and to be loved by you are the only things that have ever mattered,” she wrote one week after her boyfriend’s death.
“You are my whole world and my whole life, you live with me now every day in my heart, in my soul and in my mind. My travel partner. My best friend. I will cherish all the memories we’ve made together and keep them close to my heart. … You will always be the love of my life, my everything.”