Lisa Marie Presley's Cause of Death Revealed to Be Small Bowel Obstruction: Coroner
The singer suffered adhesions caused by a known long-term complication of bariatric surgery she underwent years ago, according to the medical examiner
Lisa Marie Presley's cause of death has been revealed.
The 54-year-old star died of sequelae of small bowel obstruction, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. A sequelae is defined as "a condition which is the consequence of a previous disease of injury" — in this case, "the obstruction was in the form of a strangulated small bowel caused by adhesions that developed after bariatric surgery years ago," according to the coroner's report obtained by PEOPLE.
"This is a known long-term complication of this type of surgery," notes Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Juan Carrillo.
TMZ was first to report the news.
Lisa Marie, a singer-songwriter and the only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, died on Jan. 12 after she was rushed to the hospital for a possible cardiac arrest.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department told PEOPLE at the time that paramedics responded to the 5900 block of Normandy Drive in Calabasas, California to treat a woman in her 50s who was not breathing. Paramedics began CPR upon arrival and, upon noting the patient had "signs of life," transferred her to a local hospital, where she later died.
The months following Lisa Marie's death had been fraught with tension within her immediate family as her mother Priscilla, 78, attempted to wrangle control of the late star's trust — which friends say she wanted in the hands of daughter Riley Keough.
Attorneys for Priscilla filed a petition in Los Angeles in January questioning the "authenticity and validity" of a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie's trust, which removed Priscilla as a co-trustee and put Keough in charge.
The petition claimed various factors — including a name misspelling and the fact that Lisa Marie did not deliver the changes to Priscilla as required by the terms of the trust — voided the amendment.
Days after her filing, Priscilla appeared to allude to the situation with a statement she shared on what would have been Lisa Marie's birthday.
"Today would have been Lisa's 55th birthday. My wish is to protect my three grandchildren and keep our family together," Priscilla wrote. "From the first moment I held Lisa in my arms, I've protected, loved and guided her, as I have my son. Our hearts are broken, and I am having to learn to live without my only daughter."
Meanwhile, those close to Lisa Marie have continued to insist that the late star wanted her legacy to lie with her children.
Joel Weinshaker, managing partner at Elvis Presley Enterprises, appeared on Sirius XM's Elvis Radio to talk about his late friend, and said she was "quite certain" and "very direct" about the situation.
"We discussed this many many times [before] she passed, and that was always Riley and Ben," he said of the children, whom she shared with ex-husband Danny Keough. "There was never a question in her mind that they would be the stewards, that they would look at it the exact same way that she did. And obviously when Ben passed, it really sat with Riley."
A settlement was reached in June, with Keough, 34, becoming the sole trustee of Lisa Marie's estate and the actress paying Priscilla $1 million as well as $400K in legal fees to settle the family trust suit.
Lisa Marie's death came just two days after she attended the 2023 Golden Globes with her mom and Elvis star Austin Butler, whose role as the King won him Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture.
She was honored at Graceland on Jan. 22 with a memorial that featured remarks from Priscilla, Riley (as read by her husband) and more, plus performances from Axl Rose, Alanis Morissette and Billy Corgan.
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