Lisa Marie Presley Through the Years: a Pop Royal Family Member's Life in Photos

Lisa Marie Presley spent her entire life being photographed. Flashbulbs went off at Baptist Memorial Hospital upon her Feb. 1, 1968 birth, just as the press thoroughly covered her Jan. 12 death at a Los Angeles medical facility. In between, the world watched the nine years Presley spent with her famous father, Elvis, including her stint living amid the splendor of Graceland.

"[Graceland is] from the essence of that period," Presley told USA Today. "It's an exceptional place, and it was incredible to grow up there. It was almost like a big playground for my father and everybody. It was my father's sanctuary, and he made it into a special place. He made it into a home for a lot of people."

As an adult, the cameras never went away. Though much of this interest hinged on tabloid readers' investment in her four marriages, there were also triumphs captured digitally and on film. These wins range from Presley's constant championing of her father's memory as well as her her critically-applauded —and brave— run as a pop-rocker in her own right.

Read on for an overview of Presley's life, from her birth into one of the world's most closely-watched families to her turn to raise talented children. It's paired with photos from throughout her 54-year life.

A Childhood Without Precedent

Presley's dad was more than the King of Rock 'n' Roll: he was arguably the most impactful pop culture phenomenon of his time. As a pillar of modern rock and pop, Elvis' fame was met with an unprecedented wave of public interest in not just his music but also every facet of his private life. Thus, the birth of his first and only child was a media happening beyond anything experienced by the families of her father's predecessors.

Publicity that began in a Memphis maternity ward continued for the following 54 years. It wasn't always for positive reasons early on, with her parents divorcing when she was 4 and her dad dying when she was 9. Indeed, the tabloid coverage of the closest thing to an American royal family made Presley an innocent bystander amid scandal and tragedy, all before age 10.

"It's only a hindrance in that I didn't ask for all the attention, so I have a phobia against it," Presley told Playboy in 2003 about the pressures that came with her surname. "I don't ask tabloids to chase me around every week. But at the same time, I would never take back any part of who I am or where I came from. I would never want to be part of anything else. I'm honored and proud of my family and my dad.

If anyone had justification to avoid the public eye, it was Presley. Growing up around the pressures faced by arguably the first pop star could've easily scared her away from being involved in any form of entertainment. Still, she went on to chase her own musical dreams and embrace her celebrity status.

The True Princess of Pop

Again, Presley was born into the closest thing at the time to an American royal family. By that measure, she claimed her rightful crown with a pop-rock career that began in 2003. Presley told Playboy that she'd played music for herself from age 20 but held off on a professional career until she formed a personal vision that strayed far from Elvis 2.0 expectations.

"Honestly, I just needed to find my way, stylistically," she told Playboy. "I was anal about the final production. I didn't want to learn the ropes publicly; I couldn't afford that. I knew there was going to be more attention on me that anyone else putting out a debut record. If I wanted to be a novelty, I could have easily called a top writer and turned into a pop star. I could have done that years ago. But I wanted to be looked at as an artist, so I couldn't do anything stupid or shallow or silly."

Debut album To Whom It May Concern is highlighted by "Lights Out," a country-rock tune and Top 40 pop hit that addressed the specter of Graceland head on, on Presley's own terms.

Presley's surly, bluesy vocal style continued on 2005's Now What, with the brooding, folk-flavored Storm & Grace wrapping up her solo album discography in 2012. She wasn't finished, though, with a digitally-created 2018 duet version of her dad's gospel classic "Where No One Stands Alone" serving as a fitting farewell.

High-Profile Friendships and Marriages

Presley bonded with other celebrities in both friendship and matrimony. She wed her first husband, fellow musician Danny Keough, in 1988. They had two children together: daughter and actor Riley Keough and a son, the late Benjamin Keough. Shortly after her 1994 divorce from Keough came a highly-publicized marriage to someone else who'd been raised in the public eye, Michael Jackson. A short-lived marriage to actor Nicolas Cage followed in 2002. Presley married her fourth and final husband, producer and director Michael Lockwood, in 2006. They welcomed twins Finley Aaron Love Lockwood and Harper Vivienne Ann Lockwood in 2007. Presley filed for divorce from Lockwood in 2016.

A Family-Oriented Life

After son Benjamin died by suicide in 2020, Presley wrote an essay for National Grief Awareness Day.

"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," she wrote (as published by People). "But I keep going for my girls. 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."

By the looks of things, Presley held her loved ones close before and after Benjamin's passing, whether she was being photographed with her children or joining her mother Priscilla Presley in embracing actor Austin Butler and his leading role in the 2022 biopic Elvis.

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