The tragic decline of Lisa Marie Presley: Star was back on opioids and had lost 42 lbs before death
CALABASAS, CALIFORNIA: Lisa Marie Presley went to extreme lengths to "look her best" at the Golden Globe Awards in the weeks leading up to her death. The only child of legendary singer Elvis Presley was said to have been consuming opioids and weight loss medication as part of an extreme weight loss regime ahead of the award season. This may come as a major surprise for many as she had already battled with opioid addiction after the birth of her twin daughters in 2008.
According to sources close to the late star's family, Lisa again turned back to the path of addiction and lost around 42 lbs in the six weeks before the Golden Globe Awards. Not only this, TMZ reported that she even had plastic surgery in an effort to look her best for the celebrations. Lisa attended the mega event just days before she suffered from an apparent cardiac arrest and died at the age of 54.
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Lisa appeared unsteady in the ceremony while speaking and clutched to her friend Jerry Schilling during answering questions from interviewers. "I'm gonna grab your arm," she said according to Daily Mail, when asked questions ahead of the event by 'Extra' host Billy Bush. She spoke slowly and mumbled her words while discussing about the film's star, Austin Butler, and the storms and flooding in Southern California. Lisa said that it took her "five days to process" Butler's performance as her father because it was "so authentic."
Lisa Marie Presley's drug abuse
Lisa heavily relied on cocaine and checked into rehab at least five times by 2013. The star was considered to be sober in the recent years and also later opened up about her drug related issues in a book detailing the dangers of opioids. "You may read this and wonder how, after losing people close to me, I also fell prey to opioids," she wrote, according to The Mirror. She added, "I was recovering after the birth of my daughters, Vivienne and Finley, when a doctor prescribed me opioids for pain. It only took a short-term prescription of opioids in the hospital for me to feel the need to keep taking them."
She continued, "Even in recent years, I have seen too many people I loved struggle with addiction and die tragically from this epidemic. It is time for us to say goodbye to shame about addiction. We have to stop blaming and judging ourselves and the people around us. That starts with sharing our stories."
From the age of 13 to 17, she rebelled with drugs but her mother put her into The Castle, a Scientology center in Hollywood, to get her off drugs. "I did everything but mushrooms and heroin or crack," she said. Lisa continued, "Cocaine, sedatives, pot, and drinking — all at the same time... I don't know how I lived through it. I woke up one day with a bunch of people on the floor. I drove myself to the Church of Scientology and said, 'Somebody... help me right now.'"
Lisa said she was drug-free by the age of 17. She revealed for the first time the severity of her own addictions in a 2015 book by Harry Nelson, '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. Lisa added "I was recovering after the [2008] birth of my daughters, [Harper] Vivienne and Finley, when a doctor prescribed me opioids for pain. It only took a short-term prescription of opioids in the hospital for me to feel the need to keep taking them."
The late singer continued, "I had never openly spoken in public about my own addiction to opioids and painkillers. I wasn't sure that I was ready to share on such a personal topic." Lisa died on January 12 after being rushed to a hospital and the cause of her death is still unknown due to pending toxicology results which may take several months, however, it is deemed to be a cardiac arrest.