The Eerie Connections Between Elvis' Birth And Lisa Marie Presley's Death
Elvis and Priscilla Presley only had one child together — Lisa Marie. The couple wed in Las Vegas on May 1, 1967, and their daughter was born on February 1 the following year. From the beginning, Lisa Marie was a daddy's girl. In an interview with CNN in 2003, Larry King asked Lisa Marie how Elvis was as a father. She said, "I knew that he was crazy about me" and that they were extremely close. The King of Rock 'n' Roll was also known to spoil his only child. According to The Washington Post, a mink coat, a slot machine, and a diamond ring were just some of the gifts Lisa Marie received as a child. And when she told her father that she had never experienced snow, Elvis remedied it immediately by flying with his daughter to Idaho to spend half an hour in the snow before flying back home. He also honored her by naming his private plane The Lisa Marie.
In 1973, Elvis and Priscilla divorced, and while Lisa Marie lived with her mother most of the time, her relationship with her father didn't suffer; they remained close until Elvis' death in 1977 when Lisa Marie was just 9 years old.
Lisa Marie admired her father
The death of her father immensely affected Lisa Marie Presley. In fact, she was at her father's house in Graceland the night he died of a heart attack. As reported by the Boston Globe, the last time she conversed with his father was when he went to her room and kissed her goodnight. Just several hours later, she saw her father dead in the bathroom.
Lisa Marie followed in her father's footsteps and pursued a career in music. She released her first album titled "To Whom It May Concern" in 2003, and it was followed by 2005's "Now What," and "Storm & Grace," released in 2012 (via Discogs). Throughout her life, Lisa Marie had four husbands: Danny Keough, Michael Jackson, Nicolas Cage, and Michael Lockwood. All ended in divorce. According to The Washington Post, she once stated that her relationships failed because she was always looking for someone like Elvis. "I'm looking for someone similar to my father, and nobody could ever compare. He was so extraordinary a presence — not even as an entertainer, just as a person," she stated.
The connections between Elvis and Lisa Marie
On January 12, 2023, Lisa Marie Presley was reportedly found unresponsive in her California home. It was later stated that she suffered a full cardiac arrest, which happens when the heart stops beating and there is a lack of oxygen supply to the brain. As reported by The Daily Mail, she was given a shot of adrenaline and was transported to a hospital following the incident. A source said that she was experiencing stomach pains earlier in the day that gradually got worse. Upon arrival at the hospital, she was taken to the ICU for monitoring, as she was given a temporary pacemaker and was on life support, as noted by TMZ.
On the evening of January 12, Priscilla Presley confirmed to People that her daughter has died. "She was the most passionate strong and loving woman I have ever known," she stated. The circumstances surrounding Lisa Marie's death are similar to her father's passing. Both were found unconscious in their homes, and both died having heart issues. Eerily, Lisa Marie died just four days after what would have been Elvis' 88th birthday.
A 'genetic curse'?
A New York Post article suggested that Lisa Marie Presley's death could be the result of a "genetic curse." Or more specifically, the byproduct of the union between Elvis' maternal grandparents — Robert Lee "Bob" Smith and Octavia "Doll" Smith — who were first cousins. According to author Sally Hoedel, this union paved the way for Elvis' early death, which she believes was inevitable. "Creating Elvis took a rare DNA combination that was not supposed to happen. It was not supposed to survive — and the consequences of that have long been ignored," she wrote.
Specifically, Hoedel believes that Elvis' early death was linked to a genetic condition called Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. "It is known from Elvis' autopsy that he was 'a carrier' for this disorder," she wrote. Elvis' mother, Gladys Smith Presley also died young from heart failure at 46, and some of her siblings also had early deaths.
Hoedel believes that though the narrative around Elvis' death is often linked to his experiences with addiction, his "fate was set on the morning he was born."