Lisa Marie Presley died of small bowel obstruction caused by bariatric surgery, coroner says

LOS ANGELES –

Lisa Marie Presley died of complications from bariatric surgery she underwent several years ago, authorities said Thursday.

The January 12 death at the age of 54 of Elvis Presley’s singer, songwriter and heir was ruled a natural death due to the effects of small bowel obstruction.

Additional details about the cause of Presley’s death are included in an autopsy report released Thursday afternoon by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office.

The report says the complication Presley experienced is a common complication of bariatric surgery, a weight loss procedure. The Mayo Clinic says it’s often done when other weight loss methods haven’t worked or when a person has a serious medical condition.

Presley died in a Los Angeles hospital where she was rushed by paramedics who responded to an 911 call from a woman in cardiac arrest at her home. No indication was made public at the time as to the cause of the medical problem.

According to the autopsy report, she complained of abdominal pain earlier in the day.

She was buried at a funeral on Jan. 22 at Graceland, the home she lived in as a child with her father that has become a museum, tourist attraction and shrine for Elvis fans.

Presley is survived by three daughters, 34-year-old “Daisy Jones & the Six” actor Riley Keough and 15-year-old twins Harper and Finley Lockwood. A son, Benjamin Keough, died in 2020.

In the immediate aftermath of her death, it appeared that a major legal battle would ensue over Presley’s estate. Four days after her funeral, her mother, Priscilla Presley, filed court documents challenging a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie Presley’s living trust that removed Priscilla Presley and a former business manager as trustees and replaced them with her two oldest children.

But Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough – who now act as sole trustee – reached a settlement in May.

Riley Keough was nominated for her first Emmy on Wednesday, for Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie for “Daisy Jones & the Six.”