Priscilla Presley remembered her late grandson, Benjamin Keough, three years after his death on Wednesday, July 12. The 78-year-old ex-wife of Elvis Presley took to Instagram to pay tribute to Benjamin by posting a graphic of a rose. “Needless to say, this has been a very solemn day for me – the anniversary of the passing of my sweet grandson Ben,” she captioned the picture. “Words cannot express how much you are missed.”
Benjamin took his own life at the age of 27 in his Calabasas, Calif. home on Sunday, July 12, 2020. He was survived by his grandmother, his mother Lisa Marie Presley, father, Danny Keough, and sisters, Riley Keough and twins Finley and Harper Lockwood. Sadly, his mother died in January at a Los Angeles hospital after being treated for cardiac arrest.
Lisa Marie blamed herself for her son’s death, which she confessed in an intimate essay just five months before her own death. She also said she felt harsh judgment by the public. “I already battle with and beat myself up tirelessly and chronically, blaming myself every single day and that’s hard enough to now live with,” she said. “But others will judge and blame you too, even secretly or behind your back which is even more cruel and painful on top of everything else.” She did, however, find some relief by joining support groups. “Nothing, absolutely NOTHING takes away the pain, but finding support can sometimes help you feel a little bit less alone,” she noted.
Lisa Marie also said she only carried on for her three girls. “It’s a real choice to keep going, one that I have to make every single day and one that is constantly challenging to say the least … But I keep going for my girls,” the hurting mother wrote. “I keep going because my son made it very clear in his final moments that taking care of his little sisters and looking out for them were on the forefront of his concerns and his mind. He absolutely adored them and they him.”
Following Benjamin’s death, Priscilla said she was absolutely devastated in a Facebook post she shared. “These are some of the darkest days of my family’s life. The shock of losing Ben has been devastating,” she penned. “Trying to put all the pieces together of all the possible whys has penetrated my soul.”
“Each day I wake up I pray it will get better,” she continued. “Then, I think of my daughter and the pain she is going through as she was a doting mother. Ben’s father, Danny, who is completely lost, as Ben was his only son. Riley, so loving and so close to him; Harper and Finley, who absolutely adored Ben. Navarone, who struggles deeply with loss and death. Rest In Peace Ben, you were loved.”
A few months after Benjamin’s death, his friend, musician Brandon Howard, gave insight into Benjamin’s daily life and the stress he constantly felt. “Sometimes he struggled with depression, which is a serious thing with [the coronavirus pandemic] and everything happening right now and everybody being locked in the house,” he described to PEOPLE.
He also said Benjamin felt immense “pressure” to live up to the Presley family name. “That kind of pressure is definitely a part of what happened. It’s a tough thing when you have a lot of pressure with your family and living up to a name and an image. It’s a lot of pressure,” Brandon explained. “It’s almost like you’re pressured into having to be a musician, having to be an actor. It was good for him to go around the world and discover himself and have his own friends. You never know what triggers it. You never know … It’s so random.”