Lisa Marie Presley has died after suffering a cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, Calif., on Thursday morning. The singer-songwriter, humanitarian, and only child of rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Elvis Presley was 20 days shy of her 55th birthday.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” Lisa Marie’s mother, Priscilla, confirmed in a statement Thursday evening. “She was the most passionate, strong, and loving woman I have ever known. We ask for privacy as we try to deal with this profound loss. Thank you for the love and prayers. At this time there will be no further comment.”
According TMZ, who first broke the news of the heart attack, Lisa Marie was found unresponsive by her housekeeper on Thursday morning. Her ex-husband Danny Keough, with whom she lived, administered CPR until paramedics arrived. After her pulse was restored, she was taken to a nearby Intensive Care Unit and placed on life support, in an induced coma, with a temporary pacemaker. According to TMZ’s sources, Lisa Marie had complained of stomach pains earlier Thursday morning, and her death was not a suicide. Lisa Marie’s father and paternal grandmother also both died from heart attacks at young ages, respectively at 42 and 46.
Lisa Marie’s death occurred just two days after she and her mother attended the Golden Globes ceremony to support Austin Butler, who won the award for Best Actor in a Drama Film for his portrayal of her father in Elvis. (Butler acknowledged Lisa Marie in his Globes acceptance speech, saying, “I love you forever.”) Just four days earlier, Lisa Marie had celebrated her father’s 88th birthday at a ceremony on the front lawn of her childhood home, Graceland, in Memphis, Tenn., telling fans attending the annual event: “This year has been an incredible year. The movie is incredible. I’m very proud of it, and I hope you are too.”
Lisa Marie Presley was born in Memphis on Feb. 1, 1968, exactly nine months after her parents’ wedding. She had a tough childhood, with her parents divorcing when she was age 4 and her father dying when she was 9. According to an interview that Lisa Marie granted to Playboy in 2003, Priscilla’s post-divorce boyfriend, actor Michael Edwards, sexually abused Lisa Marie for three years, starting when she was 12 years old. Lisa Marie was raised as a Scientologist, but according to various reports quietly left the Church some time between 2012 and 2014.