Lisa Marie Presley was so heartbroken over her son Benjamin Keough's death she kept his body at home for two months, according to her new memoir, which was completed by her daughter, Riley Keough, after her own death in 2023.
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00:00There is a memoir out with some shocking information.
00:05It is a memoir from Lisa Marie Presley, who you know has died.
00:10Yes.
00:10She had not finished the book.
00:12Her daughter, Riley Kehoe, finished it for her.
00:15Yes.
00:15And in this book, there is talk about a really tragic event
00:20in their lives where Lisa Marie's son, Benjamin,
00:24committed suicide when he was very young, an adult.
00:29And the way the body was handled raises some eyebrows.
00:35Yes, because in the book, they talk about the fact that
00:39Benjamin's body was kept at Lisa Marie's home in Calabasas
00:43for two months.
00:45Two months.
00:46And this is how Lisa describes it in the book.
00:49She says, my house has a separate casita bedroom,
00:52and I kept Ben in there for two months.
00:54I got so used to him caring for him and keeping him there.
00:59I think it would scare the living blanking piss out of
01:02anybody else to have their son there like that, but not me.
01:07So Riley then gave her view of this as she finished the book.
01:12She said, we all got this vibe from my brother that he didn't
01:15want his body in this house anymore.
01:18Even my mom said that she could feel him talking to her,
01:21saying, this is insane, Mom.
01:23What are you doing?
01:24What the bleep?
01:26So what we should say is that they did have the body embalmed
01:31right after Benjamin died.
01:34There was an autopsy performed, and then the body was taken
01:39back to Lisa Marie's house, and she kept it in this casitas
01:44at 55 degrees.
01:46That kind of raised my eyebrows because 55 doesn't seem like
01:51it's cold enough to preserve the body.
01:53The embalming, I would guess, does that, but for how long?
01:58Well, we did some digging on this.
02:00Embalming will preserve a body for a number of days, but at
02:0355 degrees, it's not really cold enough to prevent
02:06decomposition.
02:07And under the law, there's a California law that says you
02:09have to dispose of the remains within a reasonable amount of
02:12time, and that's for public health reasons.
02:14You don't want bacteria and off-gassing and so forth.
02:17So is it reasonable two months with embalmed body in 55
02:21degrees?
02:22Maybe not.
02:22And that's actually, it would have been a misdemeanor crime.
02:24Obviously, all of that is out the window because Lisa Marie
02:27has passed away, but it is an interesting issue.
02:29Well, actually, the statute of limitations wouldn't have run
02:31because he died just like four or five years ago.
02:34Right.
02:35But yeah, I mean, that's all not an issue anymore.
02:39But the body would have decomposed definitely within
02:44weeks, according to the research we've done.
02:46Yeah.
02:47And they kept it for two months.
02:50On a level, I understand this, because it was so tragic, and
02:57you don't want the finality of burying or cremating when you're
03:03going through that kind of an emotional turmoil.
03:06But still, you know, to have the body there, to see it
03:10decomposing.
03:11And the family being aware of it the whole time.
03:13Like, talk about something that over the course of that two
03:18months, what was being discussed in that?
03:21There's no way you're in the house having a discussion about
03:24anything.
03:24About anything.
03:25Without that.
03:26About anything.
03:27I agree with Harvey.
03:28It's incredibly heartbreaking, though.
03:29Remember, he died by suicide.
03:31So parents do wrestle with guilt issues.
03:33Even if it's not your fault specifically that your loved one
03:37dies by suicide, you wrestle with those issues.
03:39And it sounds like the finality of actually disposing of the
03:42remains really stuck with her for a number of months.
03:45It's quite relatable on some level.
03:46And what they ended up doing was they took the body to
03:51Graceland, where Benjamin was buried.
03:54And he is now buried next to Lisa Marie, who was also buried
03:59in Graceland.
04:00Hi, my name is Alan Massenburg, and I'm from Philadelphia, PA.
04:04And at first, when I heard this news, I thought it was kind of
04:07weird.
04:07But then I thought about it.
04:09If I had a loved one that passed away and the only options were
04:11to cremate them or bury them or have them living in my house,
04:15then I could see them every day.
04:16I probably had them living in my guest house, so I could see
04:18them every day.
04:19And it's not against the law in California, and she can afford
04:23the electric bill to keep them cold.
04:24So I don't see a problem.
04:25Well, no, no, no.
04:26But I have a question for you, because this is something I've
04:28been thinking about all morning after reading about this.
04:32Is it more upsetting to see the body decomposing in your house
04:37over what appears to be an indefinite period of time or
04:41getting the finality of a funeral or cremation?
04:44I think it's more upsetting to probably bury the body and get
04:47rid of it forever.
04:48But if it's in the house, I guess you kind of feel more
04:50connected to it.
04:51And it's not decomposing if it's kept at 55 degrees.
04:54Oh, no, it is.
04:55It actually is.
04:56There's no way by two months that it's not.
04:58It takes a couple of weeks.
05:00It will decompose even when it's embalmed.
05:02Harvey, there's one more upsetting element to all of this.
05:04Remember, Lisa Marie was young when Elvis, her father, died.
05:07And Benjamin bore a striking resemblance to Elvis.
05:10So she dealt with both of these deaths.
05:12And I can imagine just their presence and wanting to see
05:15that face probably played a role in her keeping the body around.
05:18Yeah, no, she had such a tumultuous life and struggled
05:23with drug addiction as well.
05:25And it was just a rough time.
05:28Yeah.
05:28Fame and money does not always do it.