Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health issues, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline to connect with a trained counselor or visit the Lifeline site.
DailyExpertNews
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Lisa Marie Presley loved being a mother to her “cubs.”
For example, the singer-songwriter who died on Thursday at the age of 54 referred to her four children, daughters Riley, Finley and Harper, and her son Benjamin, in a 2019 post on her verified Instagram account.
Her love for her children was palpable. In a 2012 interview with The Guardian, Presley commented that “having all my kids” was the happiest time in her life after growing up at Graceland, the only child of superstar Elvis Presley.
That’s why she said she felt devastated when Benjamin died by suicide in 2020 at the age of 27.
Presley’s last post in August 2022 led her followers to an essay she had written for National Grief Awareness Day and was published by People magazine “in the hopes that anyone who needs to hear all of this will help in some way. ”
In the essay, Presley wrote that she was “into the horrific reality of [grief’s] ruthless grip since the death of my son two years ago” and continued to talk about grief and loss.
“Death is part of life whether we like it or not – and grieving too,” she wrote. “There’s so much to learn and understand about this topic, but here’s what I know so far: One is that grief doesn’t stop or go away in any way a year or years after the loss.”
“Grief is something you have to carry with you for the rest of your life, despite what certain people or our culture would have us believe,” Presley added. “You don’t get over it, you don’t move on,” period.
Benjamin was her son with her first husband, musician Danny Keough, who is also the father of their daughter Riley, 33, a successful actress.
Twins Finley and Harper, 14, belong to Presley’s last husband, musician and producer Michael Lockwood, whom she divorced in 2016.
“I keep going for my girls,” Presley wrote in her essay.
“I am continuing because my son made it very clear in his final moments that taking care of his little sisters and taking care of them was at the forefront of his concerns and thoughts. He absolutely adored them and she absolutely adored him,” she wrote. “My lives and those of my three daughters as we knew them were completely exploded and devastated by his death. We live in this every. Single. Day.”
Presley leaned on her relationship with her daughters, writing in a post last year celebrating her February 1 birthday, “Like every day, I couldn’t have made it without these three by my side,” with a photo of them together.
However, her beloved son was never far from her thoughts.
In July 2022, she shared a photo of matching tattoos she and Benjamin had on their feet.
“Several years ago on Mother’s Day, my son and I got these matching tattoos on our feet. It is a Celtic eternity knot. It symbolizes that we will be connected forever,” she captioned her Instagram photo. “We carefully chose it to represent our undying love and our everlasting bond.”
Presley told The Guardian in 2012 that she feared death the most. After she was gone, Presley added, she wanted to be remembered: “Mostly as a good mom, and a pretty good singer-songwriter.”