Benjamin Keough was a bright light in his family's life, but he himself often struggled. When he died by suicide at age 27, it shook the entire family to its core. What should have been a charmed life was anything but.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00Benjamin Keough was a bright light in his family's life, but he himself often struggled.
00:05When he died by suicide at age 27, it shook the entire family to its core.
00:10What should have been a charmed life was anything but.
00:13When Benjamin Keough was just 16 years old, his mom, Lisa Marie Presley, began abusing opioids.
00:19As she later explained in the foreword to the 2019 book, The United States of Opioids,
00:24she was initially prescribed painkillers by her doctor following the birth of her twins,
00:28Harper and Finley, in 2008 when she was 40. Over the next few years,
00:32she became increasingly dependent on the drug, eventually turning to cocaine and alcohol as well.
00:37I was not happy. And by the way, the struggle in addiction for me started at, you know,
00:4345 years old."
00:45Keough, then in his early 20s, would soon go through a similar and equally secretive experience.
00:50Presley worked hard to keep her struggles out of the spotlight, and it seems Keough did too.
00:55The day after news broke of Keough's death, a family friend who spoke with Scientology expert
00:59and critic Tony Ortega claimed that the 27-year-old had recently completed a stint in
01:04rehab for drug and alcohol abuse. Indeed, according to Keough's autopsy, he'd been
01:08known to abuse alcohol and use illicit drugs, cocaine. Both were found in his system following
01:13his death. The report also confirmed that Keough had entered rehab on three separate occasions,
01:18but only finished the program once. What's more, it was reported that he'd spent three
01:23weeks in a rehab facility just four or five months prior to his death.
01:26Keough's sobriety journey was likely made even more difficult by the fact that he grew up in
01:30Scientology, as the church's treatment of addiction is unconventional, to say the least.
01:35The Underground Bunker quotes late anti-Scientology commentator Steve Cox as having
01:39once said,
01:39"[Scientologists believe that the Narconon treatment can cure you of alcoholism,
01:43and once completed, you can drink in safety again."
01:47They can confront their own problems and solve their own problems,
01:50and so bring themselves up by their own bootstraps."
01:53Presley was 10 years old when her mother Priscilla Presley decided the family would
01:57join Scientology after hearing John Travolta sing its praises. While her relationship with
02:02the church would prove to be contentious, Lisa Marie remained an active member until 2014.
02:07In fact, she lived at the Scientology Celebrity Center in Hollywood, California for several years,
02:11where she met her first husband and Ben's father, musician Danny Keough.
02:15Keough has been described by Page Six as church royalty of sorts, and so,
02:19not surprisingly, when he and Presley had kids Benjamin and Riley Keough,
02:23they were brought up in the church. Ultimately, Presley and her kids left the church. Benjamin
02:27never spoke out against it publicly, but one insider told Ortega that Ben would often badmouth
02:32the church to people he knew. The source claimed that, just two months before his death, Ben had
02:37been talking about how f----- up kids get in Scientology. A second insider noted that the
02:41church bars access to proper mental health care, saying,
02:44"...the entire family was shaped by Scientology, and it's paying the price because of it."
02:49Keough was born with music in his blood. Not only was he the grandson of Elvis Presley,
02:53but both his father and his late mother were talented musicians. That passion was passed
02:57on to Keough, who played both the guitar and bass. However, given his pedigree,
03:02a life in music wasn't exactly easy.
03:04I mean, he loves music, but I really kind of don't want to — that's a lot to put on him,
03:08you know, so I'm trying to, like, let him do his thing without pushing that on him so much."
03:13Even so, Keough decided to give music a shot. In 2009, it was reported that the then-17-year-old
03:19had landed a $5 million five-record deal with Universal Music. Keough said at the time,
03:23"...the music will be nothing like Elvis, nothing like him at all."
03:26The plan was to release his debut album in 2010, but it never came to fruition.
03:31While it's unclear what happened, Universal Music's executive VP, Peter Lofermento,
03:36told People magazine there was no deal to begin with, saying,
03:39"...this story is totally untrue."
03:41As Keough grew older, he began to look more and more like his famous grandfather. Indeed,
03:46when Lisa Marie Presley tweeted a family photo in 2019, fans couldn't get over how much he looked
03:51like a young Elvis Presley. One follower exclaimed,
03:53"...your son is a twin of your dad."
03:55Sadly, Keough may not have seen that as a positive. Following his death,
03:59friend and fellow musician Brandon Howard told People,
04:02"...it's a tough thing when you have a lot of pressure with your family and
04:04living up to a name and an image."
04:06Howard added that Keough felt like he had to excel if he pursued music because of his heritage,
04:11and that weighed on his mental health. Howard explained,
04:13"...that kind of pressure is definitely a part of what happened."
04:17"...he was so smart, so funny, um, such a light."
04:22Another insider summed it up to the U.S. Sun,
04:24"...he wasn't really allowed to be himself. He had big shoes to fill,
04:27and he looked just like the shadow he was in."
04:30Keough was just 27 years old when he died by suicide inside his mother's home in Calabasas,
04:35California, in July 2020. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed
04:40that Keough's cause of death was a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound.
04:44The autopsy report released that October added context to the events leading up to the tragedy.
04:49That evening, there was a birthday party in the house for Keough's girlfriend, Diana Pinto.
04:53Security cameras caught them having a possible verbal argument in the backyard.
04:57Keough headed for the bathroom. Minutes later, there was a gunshot, and Pinto began to search
05:02for Keough. According to the report, she found his bedroom door locked and forced it open using
05:07a bobby pin. Upon entering the bathroom, she found Keough lying unresponsive on the floor.
05:12If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues,
05:15needs help with mental health issues, or is struggling or in crisis, please contact the
05:20Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's
05:24National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP. That's 1-800-662-4357. You can also call or text 988
05:33or chat 988lifeline.org.