Lisa Marie Presley kept her son Benjamin’s body at home for two months

Lisa Marie Presley found it difficult to let go of her son Benjamin Keough after he died by suicide in 2020 at the age of 27.

The late 54-year-old wrote in her posthumous memoir “From Here to the Great Unknown” that she kept Benjamin’s body on dry ice in her Los Angeles home for two months after his death.

“My house has a separate casitas bedroom and I put Ben there for two months. “There is no law in the state of California that says you must bury someone immediately,” wrote Presley, who died in January 2023.

Elvis Presley’s only child said she couldn’t decide whether Benjamin should be buried in Hawaii or at the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee.

“I was so happy that there was a way to still raise him and delay it a little longer so I was okay with laying him to rest,” she wrote, adding that Benjamin’s body was in a room with a temperature of 55 degrees at any time.

Riley Keough, Presley’s daughter who completed her mother’s memoir, revealed that the couple decided to get tattoos to match Benjamin’s. So they invited a tattoo artist to personally look at the ink on Benjamin’s body.

“Lisa Marie Presley had just asked this poor man to look at her dead son’s body, which happened to be right next to us in the casitas,” Riley, 35, wrote in the book.

“I’ve had an extremely absurd life, but this moment is in the top five,” she added.

The “Daisy Jones & the Six” star said they eventually “got this vibe” from her late brother that he no longer wanted his body in Presley’s house.

“‘Guys,’ he seemed to say, ‘This is getting weird,'” Riley recalled. “Even my mom said she could feel him talking to her, ‘This is crazy mom, what are you doing?’ What the fuck.’”

But as Riley noted, it was “really important” for Presley to have “enough time to say goodbye to him, like she had with her father.” Presley was 9 years old when her famous father retired in 1977 died at the age of 42.

A funeral for Benjamin was held in Malibu. He was then buried at Graceland alongside his grandfather Elvis.

In 2022, Presley wrote an essay for People magazine in which she said she had been “destroyed” by Benjamin’s death but had to “move on” for Riley and her twin daughters Harper and Finley, 16.

“I keep going for my girls. I continue because my son made it very clear in his final moments that taking care of his little sisters and caring for them was his top priority,” the singer wrote. “He absolutely loved her and she loved him.”

Presley tragically died in January 2023 at the age of 54. She suffered cardiac arrest due to complications from a small intestine obstruction.

Riley later became the sole trustee of Graceland after a contentious legal battle with her grandmother, Priscilla Presley.

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey on Graceland, airing October 8 on CBS, Riley opens up about the loss of her mother and brother.

“I think with two family members passing away, a lot of time and grief was spent wondering where they were,” she said in a preview of the special, explaining how she came up with the title for Presley’s memoir.

“I think the perspective I took is that they are embarking on a new adventure,” Riley added.

If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can call the 24-hour National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988 or visit SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.