THE tragic sudden death of Lisa Marie Presley earlier this year bears several striking resemblances to that of her famous father, Elvis Presley, who died almost 46 years ago, a biographer says.
Lisa Marie passed away on January 12 at the age of 54. It was initially believed she'd suffered cardiac arrest but an autopsy released last month revealed her death was in fact caused by a small bowel obstruction.
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Lisa Marie, Elvis' only child, had been suffering from a number of health issues in the months and years preceding her passing, just as her father had, including heart issues, long-lasting fevers, nausea, abdominal pain, and vomiting, according to the report.
The autopsy also stated that Lisa Marie had complained of abdominal pain the morning of her death and was rushed to hospital after being found unconscious in her Calabasas home by her ex-husband, Danny Keough.
While in the emergency room, Lisa Marie suffered heart issues and had to have a temporary pacemaker installed due to life-threatening rhythms.
Her condition continued to decline until she went into cardiac arrest and was officially pronounced dead 20 minutes later.
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The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner attributed Lisa Marie's fatal bowel obstruction to a common complication from bariatric surgery, a weight-loss procedure she'd undergone years prior.
However, Elvis historian and life-long fan Sally Hoedel believes there may have been an additional reason for Lisa Marie undergoing the surgery other than just weight loss.
Pointing out that many in the Presley lineage suffered from chronic bowel issues, including Elvis, Hodel explained to The U.S. Sun: "The obstruction itself was caused by scar tissue from a gastric bypass surgery that was performed years ago. At face value, that has little correlation to how her famous father died.
"The obstruction compromised blood supply, which leads to tissue damage and then infection and then organ failure, which can result in death, as it did in this case.
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"Intestinal obstruction risk is increased after surgery, as it was in this case, but also when Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBS) and Chronic constipation are present.
"Lisa Marie suffered from digestive/bowel disorder her entire life. She referred to it as a 'chronic Presley problem' and stated that it went back to childhood for her."
Elvis died at the age of 42, on August 16, 1977. His official cause of death was listed as a heart attack but he, too, suffered from a myriad of other health problems, much like his daughter.
Hodel continued: "Elvis Presley also suffered from a life-long bowel disorder and life-long chronic constipation. Although some of the medication he was taking would have further slowed his digestive system, it did not initially cause the problem.
"There is testimony to it being a problem for Elvis as a toddler and a teen, long before fame and prescription medication. This was also true for Lisa Marie, as her own testimony attests to it being known since childhood."
Hoedel believes that Lisa Marie's gastric bypass surgery may have not only been performed for weight loss purposes but may have also possibly been conducted to ease the chronic digestive problems she'd been suffering from for much of her life.
She said: "Gastric bypass surgery is known to result in statistically significant improvement with IBS. Additionally, the pain that accompanies lifelong digestive issues would have seemed normal to her.
"Perhaps this is why she did not seek medical treatment sooner. She had suffered from gut discomfort her entire life."
GLARING PARALLELS
Hodel said there were additional details shared in Lisa Marie's autopsy that showed striking similarities between her health issues and those of her father.
Among them is the fact that Lisa Marie suffered from a "distended abdomen for years" and was suffering months of "abdominal pain" before her death.
Though Elvis was largely mocked for his dramatic weight gain prior to his death, Hoedel said much of it was actually caused by abdominal bloating and swelling.
"The report also states that Lisa Marie Presley suffered from several metabolic acidosis, which means too many acids would build up in her body. This is a result of kidney disease or kidney failure," she continued.
"We do not know how long she suffered from this condition. Was it short-term or long-term? There is a known presence of genetic kidney disease in her paternal line.
"Elvis Presley’s uncle died from kidney disease in 1968, and his daughter [Elvis’ cousin] suffers from the same genetic kidney disease today.
"Many of the symptoms for this disorder are similar to that of bowel obstruction with nausea, vomiting, confusion, and change in heart rate.
"Additionally, the report includes issues with blood sugar, blood pressure, and a history of stroke.
"Regulating the blood pressure of Elvis Presley was always a struggle for his doctor, especially after ending a performance. Likewise, the stroke is interesting from a family history standpoint as well.
"There are two uncles of Elvis Presley who suffered from strokes at an early age. Both Travis Smith and Tracy Smith suffered a stroke in their 40s and 50s. They were brothers to Gladys Presley [Elvis' mom]."
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A TRAGIC DESTINY
Hodel researched the Presley family tree and their various shared health ailments for her book, Elvis: Destined to Die Young.
She set out to write the book to dispel a number of the myths and misconceptions that have continued to swirl around Elvis' death in the 46 years since the legendary crooner was found unresponsive in the bathroom of his Graceland mansion on Aug. 16, 1977.
Elvis' heart attack death has long been attributed to his well-documented proclivity for prescription drugs and unhealthy foods.
Those attributions can be traced back to news coverage from the time, with reports painting the star as a bloated, forlorn drug addict; a rock 'n' roll cliche who popped one too many pills and died long before his time as consequence.
But for Hodel, the cause of Elvis' premature demise is not so clear-cut - and certainly not a cautionary tale about the perils of fame and self-destruction.
In fact, Hoedel believes that Elvis was always destined to die young because of a series of defective genes likely passed down to him by his maternal grandparents, Bob Smith and Doll Mansell, who were first cousins.
The King's death at the age of 42 came almost exactly 19 years to the day that his mom - and Lisa Marie's grandmother - Gladys passed away at the age of 46 in 1958.
All three of Elvis' uncles on his mother's side also passed away from either heart or liver-related issues between the ages of 46 and 58.
Hodel believes the faulty genes passed down by Bob and Doll were aggravating factors behind Elvis and Gladys' various health issues, which he then in turn treated with a cocktail of prescription drugs.
The author says the premature deaths in the Presley family "stopped being a coincidence" with Elvis' passing.
And now in the wake of Lisa Marie's premature death, Hodel is questioning whether her passing may indeed share a genetic link to the deaths of her father and grandmother before her.
Lisa Marie suffered from digestive/bowel disorder her entire life. She referred to it as a 'chronic Presley problem' and stated that it went back to childhood for her.
Sally HoedelElvis historian
"Ultimately, we do not have enough long-term health history available at this time to understand how her poor health is related to that of the inherited issues her father certainly suffered from," surmised Hoedel.
"However, another young death in the Presley family that is heart, bowel, and kidney-related does have to mean something. The presence of stroke at such a young age is certainly of interest given the presence of stroke in the family tree.
"I hope this family health history is ultimately pieced together, not only to bring peace for Lisa Marie and her family but for the obvious correlation to the young death of her famous father.
"His legacy deserves an understanding of his lifestyle choices. His story was certainly one of survival and not self-destruction.
"If Lisa Marie’s tragic death and lifelong health issues can add to that understanding, I have to imagine that is a gift in many ways to many people…but especially to her father and the sensationalism that has surrounded his death for all these years."
LISA MARIE & ELVIS: 'TALES OF SURVIVAL'
Hoedel said her research points to a number of reasons why Elvis died at a similar age to his mother, adding that he had disease or disorder present in nine of the eleven bodily functions at the time of his death, including in his heart.
At least five of those disease processes were present prior to his ascension to superstardom, perhaps even since birth, she says.
Rather than a star burning out in a reckless spiral of self-destruction - as is often painted - Hoedel believes Elvis was a man who struggled every day to survive.
Hoedel believes Lisa Marie's life bears a similar tale of survival.
Lisa Marie, like her father, struggled with substance abuse issues for much of her life.
She began drinking and taking drugs at the age of 13 after losing her dad, grandfather, and great-grandmother all within a three-year period.
Lisa Marie eventually got clean after her mom Priscilla admitted her to a Scientology rehab center but in later years she became addicted to prescription opioids and struggled with a cocaine addiction, which she went to rehab for a reported five times to treat.
In more recent years, Lisa Marie is believed to have been sober, though friends close to the family previously told The U.S. Sun they had been worried about her health for some time, particularly since the suicide death of her son, Benjamin Keough, who shot himself at a party in July 2020.
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Both Elvis and his mom Gladys suffered a four-year period of degenerative health in the lead-up to their deaths, according to Hoedel.
Research she conducted found that Gladys had been seeing a cardiologist since at least 1956, and was also hospitalized for two weeks that same year with a mystery illness.
Shortly before her death, Gladys was also diagnosed with hepatitis, the origins of which baffled her doctors at the time.
The condition, which targets the lungs and liver, was thought to have been related to Gladys' alcoholism.
GLADYS PRESLEY'S STRUGGLES
Born and raised in extreme poverty in the deep south, Gladys' struggles to cope with her son's meteoric ascension to fame and fortune are well documented, with the self-described "most miserable woman in the world" reportedly once telling a friend over the phone, "I wish we were poor again, I really do."
Growing increasingly isolated and depressed as Elvis became a global sensation, Gladys began drinking excessively and taking diet pills - a downward spiral that many believe led to her hepatitis diagnosis and ultimately contributed to her death.
Gladys fell seriously ill just a few months after Elvis enlisted in the US Army. The timing of her downturn in health spurred theories that Gladys drank herself to death, wracked with worry and suffering from a broken heart while her son was serving overseas in Germany.
For Hoedel, any such claims are just baseless "romanticism."
In an interview with The U.S. Sun last year, Hoedel said: "Gladys has always been painted as this woman whose son became famous, bought her a big house and she just struggled to deal with it all and essentially died of a broken heart," the author and historian said in an interview last year.
"But that's not how it works. I think Elvis and Vernon [Elvis' dad] both knew who knew how sick she was before he left for the army.
"They were all so sad because I believe for sure that they knew they didn't have a lot of time left with her."
Contrary to popular folklore, Hoedel believes - like Elvis - the causes of Gladys' death and ill-health lie further up the family tree - as might Lisa Marie's.
"The Presleys were incredibly secretive about their health," Hoedel said, "but I managed to interview people like Nancy Clarke, the daughter of Gladys’ cardiologist, who used to go on house calls with her dad to the Presley home.
"And she told me before her dad passed away, he said there was more to Gladys' death than what he understood because he's long been quoted as saying it looked like hepatitis, but it wasn't, and he couldn't work out what was wrong with her."
Hoedel believes that Gladys was actually suffering from Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, an inherited and rarely diagnosed disorder that can cause lung and liver disease.
"We know Elvis had it because he found to be a carrier for Alpha-1 after his death, so it had to come from somewhere" she added.
"And it all leads back to Gladys' parents."
In her book, Hoedel examines the health issues of Elvis' grandmother, Doll Smith, who is believed to have suffered from Tuberculosis for more than 30 years.
“Again, something that doesn’t make sense, but continued to be passed down the family tree and then throughout recorded Elvis history as well," said Hoedel.
“This book explains how Tuberculosis was most certainly a misdiagnosis in the early 1900s.
“From there, with the first-cousin marriage, we can see that Gladys most likely inherited two damaged genes and a more serious version of the disease.”
SOLEMN ANNIVERSARY
Wednesday marks 46 years since the death of Elvis.
Elvis and his daughter were both found to have numerous narcotics and medications in their bloodstream at the time of their respective deaths, though none amounted to a lethal dose.
In Lisa Marie's case, she had oxycodone in her blood - which she was prescribed for pain from a recent cosmetic surgery - as well as antidepressant quetiapine metabolite, norbuprenorphine, and buprenorphine, which treats opioid addiction.
"The decedent had a history of overmedicating; she was known to forget she had taken her medications and would take them again," the autopsy reads.
"She had a history of alcohol abuse and illicit drug use in the past. She had reportedly been clean from both since 2015. She smoked approximately 1 pack of cigarettes daily."
Hoedel said the cosmetic procedure may provide yet another correlation to her father's health.
"There was medication in her system at therapeutic levels, which means they did not contribute to her death. She had recently had cosmetic surgery and was still dealing with the pain from that procedure," said Hoedel.
"Although she had drug abuse problems in the past, this appears to be necessary pain medication for a recent procedure.
"Also coming to light from that procedure, was that she suffered an infection post-op that required hospitalization.
"It is known that Elvis Presley suffered from hypogammaglobulinemia, which means his body struggled to fight infection. It was a constant problem for him, especially while touring.
"A history of infection in Lisa Marie is unknown, but this is another correlation."
Lisa Marie Presley’s last public appearance came just days before her death at the Golden Globe Awards, which she attended with her mother, Priscilla, to support the Baz Luhrmann film 'Elvis,' about her late father.
The months following were fraught with tension between Priscilla and Lisa Marie's daughter, Riley Keough, as they feuded over control of the late star's trust.
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They reached a settlement in June, with Riley becoming the sole trustee of the estate.
As part of the settlement, Priscilla was paid $1 million and reimbursed $400k in legal fees.
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