Introduction:
Lisa Marie Presley’s posthumous memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown, is not a book that hides behind glossy nostalgia or family legend. Instead, it is a searingly honest account of her experiences as Elvis Presley’s only daughter—a life filled with privilege and glamour, but also haunted by sorrow, fractured relationships, and personal tragedy. Completed by her daughter Riley Keough after Lisa Marie’s death in 2023 at the age of 54, the memoir strips away myth and sentiment to reveal a raw, unvarnished portrait of the Presley legacy.
At its core, the book is shaped by Lisa Marie’s early loss of her father, Elvis Presley. She describes Graceland not simply as a mansion, but as a world unto itself, where Elvis reigned as both king and lawmaker. Behind the walls of his Memphis estate, there was both joy and chaos—pool rooms filled with smoke, weapons and fireworks stored in sheds, and the volatile moods of the King himself. Lisa Marie recalls her father’s overwhelming presence: if his energy was good, it was magnetic, but if it turned dark, those around him braced for impact. Even so, she revered him, considering him godlike, and his death shattered her in ways that would never fully heal.
That tragedy defined much of her life. Lisa Marie vividly recounts the day she found her father after his fatal heart attack in 1977, and the haunting grief that followed. She describes her grandfather Vernon’s cries of despair, the chaos of people looting Elvis’s belongings before he was even pronounced dead, and her own quiet moments of mourning by her father’s side after the crowds had left. The loss left what she described as a permanent imprint of sadness—something others often remarked they could see in her eyes.
The memoir also does not shy away from difficult truths about her family. Lisa Marie speaks with painful honesty about her strained relationship with her mother, Priscilla Presley, whom she describes as cold and lacking maternal instincts. She details disturbing incidents of abuse at the hands of Priscilla’s boyfriend, actor Michael Edwards, when she was just a child. These revelations highlight not only Lisa Marie’s vulnerability but also the absence of the parental protection she desperately needed.
Her adult life was no less complicated. She writes about her marriages to musician Danny Keough and pop icon Michael Jackson, reflecting on both love and turmoil. With Keough, she admits to manipulating circumstances to ensure marriage, yet he remained one of the few people who truly cared for her. With Jackson, she found herself drawn to his remarkable energy and charisma, while also confronting his controlling nature and the shadows cast by public scandal.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking passages come in her account of her son Benjamin Keough’s suicide in 2020. Lisa Marie’s grief was so profound that she kept his body at her home for two months, seeking comfort in his presence even in death. It was, as Riley Keough later wrote, one of the most surreal and absurd choices in an “extremely absurd life,” but for Lisa Marie, it was a way to hold on just a little longer.
From Here to the Great Unknown is a deeply personal book, unflinching in its honesty and heavy with the weight of loss. Yet within its pages, readers also see Lisa Marie’s fierce love—for her father, for her children, and for life itself, despite its many blows. It is not a story of celebrity glamour, but rather a testament to resilience in the face of unimaginable sorrow.