January 2023 nONCONFORMIST of the Month – Lisa Marie Presley
On January 12, 2023, the world was shocked by the death of Lisa Marie Presley at age 54. She was born “The King’s Daughter” and grew up in the spotlight. Many think that for this reason she had or should have had an easy life. This was not the case. The wealth of her father Elvis, even after he died, was immense and it allowed her to live with many advantages. However, the divorce of her parents when she was four and the death of her father when she was nine impacted her. And they were just the beginning.
Lisa was a rebellious teen and her mother sent her to boarding school. She experimented with drugs and alcohol and as a young adult sought help. She married in her early twenties and had a son and a daughter in the next few years. Although things may have seemed rosy, she shocked the world by leaving her husband and marrying Michael Jackson. Many speculated that their marriage was fake, but she was adamant that it was real. She later told Oprah that she mesmerized by him and felt a sort of high in his presence. The marriage lasted only a couple of years due to intense scrutiny about Michael Jackson’s behavior with young children.
Another shock come several years later when she married Nicholas Cage only to separate from him a few months later. During this time, she recoded her first album “For Whom it May Concern” which contained songs she wrote herself. It went Gold, meaning it sold at least 500,000 copies. She followed that album with her second a few years later called “Now What?” The following year she married again and later delivered twin daughters. During this marriage she released her third album “Storm and Grace” again writing the songs. During these years she recorded a few duets with her late father, recording her voice on tracks of his old songs. In my opinion, the result was beautiful. Of her music, Lisa often said that she wanted to focus of being a singer-songwriter and to use it as self-expression and was less concerned about being hugely popular. She wanted to be her own person and do her own thing.
During all these events, she made sure her father’s legacy was kept alive and honored. She owned and ran Graceland, which became a tourist attraction after his death. She was also involved in the operations of Elvis Presley Enterprises and the Presley Charitable Foundation. In addition, her main focus was always of being a mother to her four children. She often spoke about how much purpose and meaning she got from that role. Her world was turned upside down in July 2020 when her 27-year-old son committed suicide.
For 2 ½ years she pushed through her heartache and grief. She wrote and spoke out publicly about her grief in the hope that she could help others who were grieving. She helped with the creation of the fantastic movie about her father’s life called “Elvis” (2022) and made an appearance at Graceland just days before her death for Elvis’s 88th birthday celebration. Her last public appearance was at the Golden Globe awards where she supported and cheered for Auston Butler who won Best Actor for playing her father in the 2022 movie. She pushed herself forward in so many ways in spite of the tremendous pain she was experiencing related to her son’s death.
Whatever the cause of her early passing, it was certainly a shock a great loss to most of the public. Despite her inherent fame, Lisa Marie was not a typical celebrity. Like her father, she made herself available top sign autographs and chat with fans. She was well-liked by everyone and had friends in various niches of Hollywood. She was descried as “Down-to-earth” and “cool” and those who knew her described her as having a kind spirit. She was popular not just because of her famous father, but because of who she was. Her personality, her “real-ness” and transparency, her determination and strength, and for being her own person.
RIP Lisa Marie