Benjamin Keough, to his mother's delight, was a spitting image of his grandfather, Elvis Presley.
Losing a child can be one of the most difficult emotions to process for a parent. It is even worse when it's unexpected. The hopes and dreams they had imagined for their kid are shattered in a moment leaving behind just memories to hold on to. Lisa Marie Presley, mother of Benjamin Keough, is going through the same emotions.
The only daughter of Elvis Presley hadn't imagined in her dreams that one day she would lose her child so suddenly. Benjamin, whom she shares with her ex-husband, musician Danny Keough was found dead at Lisa's family home in Calabasas. The 27-year-old is suspected of dying from a "self-inflicted gunshot wound", reported TMZ.
Roger Widynowski, Lisa's rep, revealed to People that she was "beyond devastated" over her son's death. “Other family members were told early in the morning, it is shocking news but it also isn't a huge surprise as he had been struggling. Everyone is heartbroken and devastated,” he said.
Lisa has three other kids, Riley Keough, 31, whom she shares with ex-Danny Keough and 11-year-old twin daughters, Harper and Finley, whom she shares with another ex-husband, Michael Lockwood. Explaining the situation further, Widynowski said, "She is completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated but trying to stay strong for her 11-year-old twins and her oldest daughter Riley."
Even though Benjamin had stayed away from the traps of social media as opposed to his mother and sister, the bond he shared with his mother was quite visible from Lisa's Instagram account. "She adored that boy. He was the love of her life," said Widynowski to People.
For most of his life, Benjamin had preferred staying out of the spotlight, reported the Mirror. The Daily Mail had reported that he was "understood to have signed a £3.3million five-album deal with the record company Universal." But the claims were denied by Universal, reported Entertainment Weekly.
Lisa being a supportive mother never pressured her son into honoring the family name with success as was expected of him by the world. She told Huffington Post in 2013, "He's doing his own thing right now. I'm going to let him decide when he wants to go out and do what he wants to do." But years of "struggling" might have taken a toll on Benjamin, A source close to the family revealed that his death, though shocking, hadn't come as a "huge surprise" for the family, as reported by the Daily Mail.
According to The Sun, the police had pronounced him "dead at the scene." They said, "Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau detectives are continuing their death investigation of a male White adult in his 20s..." They continued, "Detectives have learned that deputies assigned to Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station responded to the location regarding a 'rescue response' call. Upon their arrival, they located the victim suffering from one gunshot wound to the upper torso."
Benjamin was known famously for the uncanny resemblance he shared with his grandfather, Elvis Presley. Lisa was amused by how much her son looked like her father. She told CMT, "Ben does look so much like Elvis. He was at the Opry and was the quiet storm behind the stage. Everybody turned around and looked when he was over there. Everybody was grabbing him for a photo because it is just uncanny," reported The Mirror.
In 2012, Benjamin had appeared along with his siblings in the music video of Lisa's rendition of her father's 1954 hit I Love You Because. In one of the recent social media posts of Lisa from June 2019, the singer and businesswoman can be seen with her four children, reported Peoples. She captioned it, “Mama Lion with cubs ❤️🖤💚💙🦁🥰." The picture is proof of the love shared between the siblings as the group can be seen huddled together with Benjamin leaning into sister Riley.
Lisa and Benjamin marked their love for each other by getting matching tattoos in 2009 for Mother's Day. Explaining the tattoo to her followers, she wrote on Twitter that it was “a Celtic eternity knot” which represents “eternal love and connection.”
Lisa's life had never been simple. Married four times, her most famous marriages were with the King of Pop, Micheal Jackson, and the Ghost Rider actor, Nicholas Cage. Her marriage with Cage lasted for just 108 days, reported The Sun. For a mother who adored her kids more than anything, especially Benjamin, his death was a definite shock.
References:
https://www.tmz.com/2020/07/12/lisa-marie-presley-son-benjamin-keough-dead-dies-suicide-elvis/
https://people.com/music/lisa-marie-presley-son-benjamin-keough-dead-at-27/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/breaking-benjamin-keough-dead-lisa-22345190
https://ew.com/article/2009/10/07/elvis-presley-grandson-benjamin-album/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lisa-marie-presley-follow
http://www.cmt.com/news/1695790/lisa-marie-presley-sees-her-fathers-spirit-in-her-kids/
