Lisa Marie Presley was almost consuming 80 pills a day during her darkest days: "Too painful..."
Lisa Marie Presley was born into fame, yet her struggles, like her fight with drug abuse, were frequently in the news. As per People, the first time Presley opened up about her opiate and painkiller addiction was in the foreword of Harry Nelson's book, 'The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain.' "You may read this and wonder how, after losing people close to me, I also fell prey to opioids," she wrote. At her worst, the 'Lights Out' singer took 80 pills a day, and her life became unmanageable. "It escalated to 80 pills a day," she disclosed in her posthumously released memoir 'From Here To The Great Unknown.'
She added, "It took more and more to get high, and I honestly don't know when your body decides it can't deal with it anymore. But it does decide at some point." The book detailed how Presley developed an opiate addiction following the delivery of her twin daughters, Harper and Finley, via cesarean section. The mother of four confessed to going down the rabbit hole again while trying to cope with the tragic death of her son, Benjamin. "It was an absolute matter of addiction and withdrawal in the big leagues," she wrote. "I just wanted to check out. It was too painful to be sober." Daughter Riley Keough admitted that the family was surprised by her mother's rehab stint since she was always against drug abuse.
Keough shockingly revealed that her mother was then high "on the post-rehab cocktail." However, a life-altering seizure made Presley prioritize her health, and she decided to go sober. "She had been very chastened by the seizure," Keough recalled. "It's a difficult path to overcome this dependence and to put my life back together," she wrote, describing her predicament in Nelson's foreword. However, she credited her children for helping her maintain sanity. "As I write this, I think of my four children, who gave me the purpose to heal." She continued by counting her blessings, "grateful to be alive today and to have four beautiful children who have given me a sense of purpose that has carried me through dark times."
Presley managed to keep her addiction away from her fans and the media for years; however, details about the severity of her case were accidentally revealed during her divorce with her fourth husband, Michael Lockwood. Presley passed away in January 2023 after experiencing complications due to a 'small bowel obstruction' caused by bariatric surgery. Her death was unrelated to the opioids in her system, according to an autopsy. Presley had largely advocated against drug abuse, especially during her time being married to Michael Jackson. She had vehemently confronted his doctors, accusing them of putting his life in danger just like her father, Elvis Presley.
David E. Stanley, the stepbrother of Elvis Presley, wrote a memoir titled, 'My Brother Elvis: The Final Years' that included startling information regarding the legend's drug use. According to the book, the King of Rock and Roll carried "attack packs" that contained a mixture of six to eleven tablets. This was followed by injections of Demerol, a painkiller based on opioids. Stanley claimed that Elvis was dependent on at least three packs every day. At the age of 42, Elvis was discovered dead on the floor of his Graceland bathroom in August 1977.