Lisa Marie Presley's Final Instagram Post Before Death About Grief

For the past two years, Lisa Marie Presley had been dealing with the grief of tragically losing her son Benjamin Keough — a subject which she discussed at length in her final Instagram post before her death Thursday at age 54.

Keough died by suicide at age 27 in 2020 and in August, Presley, who was the only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, wrote an essay for People magazine in honor of National Grief Awareness Day. She shared that essay on Instagram as her final post.

"In honor of it being National Grief Awareness Day, I wrote an essay about grief ... I thought I'd post it here in the hopes that anyone who needs to hear all of this it helps in some way," she captioned a screenshot of the article.

In the essay, Presley wrote of the "horrific reality" of grief, which she admitted was not a "comfortable subject" to talk about.

"Death is part of life whether we like it or not — and so is grieving," she wrote. "There is so much to learn and understand on the subject, but here's what I know so far: One is that grief does not stop or go away in any sense, a year, or years after the loss. Grief is something you will have to carry with you for the rest of your life, in spite of what certain people or our culture wants us to believe. You do not 'get over it,' you do not 'move on,' period."

Referring to her father's death, as well as the death of Keough, Presley added that she has "dealt with death, grief and loss since the age of 9 years old."

"I've had more than anyone's fair share of it in my lifetime and somehow, I've made it this far," she added.

Presley also opened up about how tough it was to deal with the loss of her son each 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 admitted. "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."

Presley shared Benjamin and daughter Riley, 33, with her first husband Danny Keough, and had 14-year-old twins, Harper Vivienne and Finley Aaron, with Michael Lockwood.

Presley died within hours of being rushed to the hospital after experiencing cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, California. Her mother, Priscilla Presley, confirmed her death in a statement to People.

"It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us," Priscilla Presley said Thursday evening. "She was the most passionate strong and loving woman I have ever known. We ask for privacy as we try to deal with this profound loss. Thank you for the love and prayers. At this time there will be no further comment."

• Ben Keough’s Sister, Riley Keough, Mourns His Death a Year Later
• Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis' Daughter, Dies of Cardiac Arrest