Lisa Marie Presley's often tumultuous life led her through the glitzy but treacherous arenas of fame, love, and utmost loss. Her posthumous memoir, titled From Here to the Great Unknown, serves as both a candid window and sobering curtain to the realities she faced as Elvis Presley’s daughter. With the help of her daughter Riley Keough, who listened to recorded tapes and pieced together her mother’s narratives, the memoir captures both the highs of celebrity existence and the devastating lows driven by personal trauma.
The book, released on October 8, 2024, unveils Lisa Marie’s deeply personal experiences—beginning with her father’s tragic demise when she was only nine years old. The sudden loss of Elvis holds monumental weight over the entire account. Lisa Marie writes about waking up on the fateful afternoon of August 16, 1977, only to feel dread wash over her, sending her rushing to check on her father. The image of finding him lifeless on the bathroom floor never left her.
"That moment was like being hit by lightning; it shattered my world," she recalled. "I had the distinct feeling of being lost and alone before I even registered the finality of his death." This early trauma, compounded with the extensive mourning rituals and the pressures of living under the spotlight of the Presley legacy, formed the backdrop of her complex emotional existence.
Lisa Marie's relationship with her mother, Priscilla Presley, is also thoroughly dissected. Their interactions were often fraught, with Lisa Marie expressing feelings of inadequacy around her mother. She wrote, "I always felt like I was just not enough for her; I was always seeking approval but never quite getting it." Riley notes how they had famously innumerable disagreements, yet managed to chart their lives as pivotal women alongside the legacy of Elvis. The rifts are laid bare, but the memoir holds back from completely elaborative accounts of the financial warfare Johnnys and familial strife concerning the Graceland estate, delicately leaving room for interpretation and reader reflection.
The memoir doesn’t shy away from Lisa Marie's darker struggles, particularly her spiraling battle with opioid addiction. Post-birth of her twin daughters, Harper and Finley, Lisa Marie began taking medically prescribed opioids to manage her pain after C-section, which soon spiraled out of control as she turned to them as coping mechanisms amid personal upheavals.
"After losing my religion, I found myself at the mercy of loneliness, and I used drugs to escape what I couldn’t face," she revealed. Her struggles worsened post-divorce from her first husband, Danny Keough, causing significant rifts between her and family members.
Riley Keough, who contributed significantly to the book's completion, shared candid insights about her mother's struggle with addiction. She noted, "Mom's world had crumbled, and instead of finding solace, she turned to the very thing she had once avoided. Her addiction became both fuel and prison—a vicious circle she desperately sought to escape." The memoir vividly depicts the dangers of prescription drugs and their societal invisibility, exploring themes of mental health and grief.
The relationship with pop icon Michael Jackson—a highlight memory for many readers—casts light not only on dear young love but also on the intricacies of celebrity relationships. Lisa Marie recalls their first romantic interlude following her divorce from Danny, confiding how intoxicantly charged yet sheltered their bond felt. She shares, "The most surprising thing about Michael was his innocence. He told me he was still a virgin, having only kissed one other person before me, and the care he exhibited made me feel both adored and confused. I didn’t want to be someone’s secret or their downfall." Riley adds her perspective, recognizing the passion but also attributing their eventual downfall to the immense pressures each faced.
One particularly haunting passage divulges how they traveled together, bonding deeply over mutual pain and laughter during their time together, with moments of levity peppered through their enigmatic connection. Their mutual grief brought them closer, and their respective struggles cast shadows over those tender memories.
Undeniably, the most gut-wrenching moments conveyed through the memoir deal with the suicide of her son, Benjamin Keough, who died tragically at 27. Lisa Marie’s grief is raw and visceral as she acknowledges the difficulty of moving on. "Keeping Ben’s body at home on dry ice for two months was never about some morbid fascination; it was my way of holding on, processing what I couldn’t understand. I felt drawn to him; I truly believed he was my anchor throughout my chaos," she expressed.
Riley adds, "Mom needed closure, more than what our society promotes where we quickly rid ourselves of the deceased, usually without enough time for emotional processing. That two months taught me too—everyone handles grief differently, and it’s okay to do just as we need, regardless of judgment." This part of the memoir is worthy of highlighting as it provides stark revelations about how those closest to tragedy sometimes seek unconventional methods of coping instead of adhering to societal norms.
The memoir also reveals startling moments of high-profile relationships, including her marriage to famed actor Nicolas Cage which lasted only 108 days. While it provided one more glimpse of Lisa Marie's struggle for stability and longing for love, readers feel both the thrill and rapid dissolution of it all. Keough remarked, "Every time I think of Nicolas, I can’t help but feel compassion. Mom was lost, and the whirlwind of it all reflected her desperation to find what she needed—no matter how fleeting the illusion proved to be."
A fascinating nugget shared within the memoir sheds light on the affair with Jackson detailing their bizarre wedding plans. Michael, during their time together, casually threw out marriage proposals created within romantic, dreamy moments, as Lisa Marie recounts: "He once said, ‘I want to have children with you.’ At the time, I felt flattered and thrilled; it was everything I had longed for, yet we were just living under such extreme conditions, it was hard to breathe sometimes. "
While the memoir offers ample insights, discussions surrounding her health challenges provide another lens through which the public can observe the consequences of celebrity pressures and personal tragedies. Lisa Marie's passing, resulted from complications including cardiac arrest attributed to prior health concerns, rekindles public discourse on the importance of health, particularly heart health among women.
Peer-reviewed sources note, “Her father's history of heart-related issues loomed ominous, as Lisa Marie shared signs of previous heart conditions.” Multiple recollections within the book detail her frequent trips to doctors, her sincere desire to break free from addiction, and her terrifying experiences during low points.
“You can’t escape who you are or where you come from. That blood runs deep,” she states poignantly.
The memoir navigates through rivalry, addiction, heartbreak, and attempts at reclamation. Riley, aware of the burden of being ‘Lisa Marie’ herself, states her hope for readers: “What I really want is for people to look beyond the headlines and understand the depth of my mother’s struggles and triumphs, intense fear, and laughter. She was always more than the label of being Elvis’ daughter; she was Lisa, living under the weight of such complex shadows, and I hope we can all find forgiveness, love, and grace amid the darker hues of life.”
By the final chapters, the tone remains resoundingly reflective — offering explanations for the emotional scars deeply embedded within Lisa Marie's life; transforming her narrative from dependency and chaos to eventual acceptance and healing. While the shadows of her past remain intertwined with her identity, Lisa Marie’s memoir offers insight, spark, and the hope of forge anew — shedding layers of taught perspectives along the way, urging readers to embrace their humanity, undeniably flawed yet beautiful.
